Ben, you are right. Two people with dusty eyes is worse than one. But it isn’t twice as worse. It’s not even nearly twice as worse. On the other hand I would say that two people being tortured is almost twice as bad as one, but not quite. I’m sure I can’t write down a formula for my utility function in terms of number of deaths, or dusty eyes, or tortures, but I know one thing: it is not linear. There’s nothing inherently irrational about choosing a nonlinear utility function. So I will continue to prefer any number of dusty eyes to even one torture. I would also prefer a very large number of 1-day tortures to a singe 50-year one. (far far more than 365 * 50). Am I being irrational? How?
Ben, you are right. Two people with dusty eyes is worse than one. But it isn’t twice as worse. It’s not even nearly twice as worse. On the other hand I would say that two people being tortured is almost twice as bad as one, but not quite. I’m sure I can’t write down a formula for my utility function in terms of number of deaths, or dusty eyes, or tortures, but I know one thing: it is not linear. There’s nothing inherently irrational about choosing a nonlinear utility function. So I will continue to prefer any number of dusty eyes to even one torture. I would also prefer a very large number of 1-day tortures to a singe 50-year one. (far far more than 365 * 50). Am I being irrational? How?