Idea 1: dust specks, because on a linear scale (which seems to be always assumed in discussions of utility here) I think 50 years of torture is more than 3^^^3 times worse than a dust speck in one’s eye.
Idea 2: dust specks, because most people arbitrarily place bad things into incomparable categories. The death of your loved one is deemed to be infinitely worse than being stuck in an airport for an hour. It is incomparable; any amount of 1 hour waits are less bad than a single loved one dying.
Idea 1: dust specks, because on a linear scale (which seems to be always assumed in discussions of utility here) I think 50 years of torture is more than 3^^^3 times worse than a dust speck in one’s eye.
How much would you have to decrease the amount of torture, or increase the number of dust specks, before the dust specks would be worse?
I don’t know. I don’t suppose you claim to know at which point the number of dust specks is small enough that they are preferable to 50 years of torture?
(which is why I think that Idea 2 is a better way to reason about this)
Idea 1: dust specks, because on a linear scale (which seems to be always assumed in discussions of utility here) I think 50 years of torture is more than 3^^^3 times worse than a dust speck in one’s eye.
Idea 2: dust specks, because most people arbitrarily place bad things into incomparable categories. The death of your loved one is deemed to be infinitely worse than being stuck in an airport for an hour. It is incomparable; any amount of 1 hour waits are less bad than a single loved one dying.
How much would you have to decrease the amount of torture, or increase the number of dust specks, before the dust specks would be worse?
I don’t know. I don’t suppose you claim to know at which point the number of dust specks is small enough that they are preferable to 50 years of torture?
(which is why I think that Idea 2 is a better way to reason about this)