wait, why are we assuming that adding the new people and sharing with them always generates more utility, why are we assuming the amount of utility the people in A lose by sharing with A+ is always exceeded by the amount the people in A+ gain?
Right, going from A+ to B might require increasing the amount of resources available if it has to avoid decreasing total utility, and if it does, then you can’t derive the repugnant conclusion as an actual policy recommendation. Although diminishing marginal returns suggests that going from A+ to B usually will not require adding resources, but going from A to A+ will. [Edit: I was about to add a link to a post explaining this in more detail, but then I realized that you wrote it, so I guess you understand that]
Edit2: And you still haven’t answered my question. Why N=2?
I was trying to say that a more complex, multifaceted theory of ethics, such as the one I propose, is necessary to avoid various frightful implication of more simplified ethics.
Forget “a naive utilitarian who doesn’t … might …”. If there are a bunch of people whose lives are so terrible that it would almost be better for them to kill them out of mercy, but not quite, and keeping them alive takes a lot of resources that could be very useful to others, I would endorse killing them, and I find that fairly intuitive. Do you disagree?
Edit2: And you still haven’t answered my question. Why N=2?
I thought that N would have to equal 2 in order for the math to work out when claiming that going from A+ to B would always increase utility. It seems like otherwise you’d reach a point where it would lower utility to take wealth from A and give it to A+. But you’ve convinced me that my math might be off.
If there are a bunch of people whose lives are so terrible that it would almost be better for them to kill them out of mercy, but not quite, and keeping them alive takes a lot of resources that could be very useful to others, I would endorse killing them, and I find that fairly intuitive.
I suppose if you put it that way. I think for me it would depend a lot on how wealthy the rest of society is, perhaps because I have prioritarian sympathies. But I can’t say in principle that there aren’t instances where it would be acceptable.
Right, going from A+ to B might require increasing the amount of resources available if it has to avoid decreasing total utility, and if it does, then you can’t derive the repugnant conclusion as an actual policy recommendation. Although diminishing marginal returns suggests that going from A+ to B usually will not require adding resources, but going from A to A+ will. [Edit: I was about to add a link to a post explaining this in more detail, but then I realized that you wrote it, so I guess you understand that]
Edit2: And you still haven’t answered my question. Why N=2?
Forget “a naive utilitarian who doesn’t … might …”. If there are a bunch of people whose lives are so terrible that it would almost be better for them to kill them out of mercy, but not quite, and keeping them alive takes a lot of resources that could be very useful to others, I would endorse killing them, and I find that fairly intuitive. Do you disagree?
I thought that N would have to equal 2 in order for the math to work out when claiming that going from A+ to B would always increase utility. It seems like otherwise you’d reach a point where it would lower utility to take wealth from A and give it to A+. But you’ve convinced me that my math might be off.
I think that I might have made the N=2 conclusion before I reached the “adding resources is neccessary conclusion” you alluded to earlier, and that it persisted as a cached thought even though my newer ideas made it obsolete.
I suppose if you put it that way. I think for me it would depend a lot on how wealthy the rest of society is, perhaps because I have prioritarian sympathies. But I can’t say in principle that there aren’t instances where it would be acceptable.