(Very off-hand and uncharitably phrased and likely misleading reaction to the “Holden vs. hardcore utilitarianism” bit, thought it’s just useful enough to quickly share anyways)
Holden’s and Rob’s takes felt a bit like “Hey, we have these confused ideas of infitinies, and then apply it to Utilitarianism and make Utilitarianism confusing ➔ let’s throw out Utilitarianism and deprioritize the welfare of future generations relative to what the caring and calculating approach tells us. And maybe even consider becoming nihilists haha, but for real, let’s just lean into our parochial moral intuitions more.”
Instead my response to this cluster of thinking: Don’t break your brain on infinite universes, just be a common-sense futurist. Don’t think about Everett branches, think about the concrete bread-and-butter stars and planets out there that are not confusing, that exist today! We can see them with our own eyes! They are not infinite, but they are huge, they are likely much much much much much much much much much much much much bigger than everything that ever happened on Earth, and that indeed does swamp a lot of other very important things.
(Very off-hand and uncharitably phrased and likely misleading reaction to the “Holden vs. hardcore utilitarianism” bit, thought it’s just useful enough to quickly share anyways)
Holden’s and Rob’s takes felt a bit like “Hey, we have these confused ideas of infitinies, and then apply it to Utilitarianism and make Utilitarianism confusing ➔ let’s throw out Utilitarianism and deprioritize the welfare of future generations relative to what the caring and calculating approach tells us. And maybe even consider becoming nihilists haha, but for real, let’s just lean into our parochial moral intuitions more.”
Instead my response to this cluster of thinking: Don’t break your brain on infinite universes, just be a common-sense futurist. Don’t think about Everett branches, think about the concrete bread-and-butter stars and planets out there that are not confusing, that exist today! We can see them with our own eyes! They are not infinite, but they are huge, they are likely much much much much much much much much much much much much bigger than everything that ever happened on Earth, and that indeed does swamp a lot of other very important things.