If I take your hypothetical in the sense I think you intend, then yes. In practice, I’d rather not, for the same reason I’d want to create copies of myself if only one existed to begin with.
I agree that the value of society is the value it provides to the people in it. However, I don’t think we should try to maximize the minimum happiness of everyone in the world: that way lies madness. I’d rather create one additional top-quality work of great art or culture than save a thousand additional orphans from starvation.
(If the thousand orphans could be brought up to first-world standards of living, rather than only being given mere existence, then they might produce more than one top-quality work of great art or culture on average between them. But the real world isn’t always that morally convenient.)
If I take your hypothetical in the sense I think you intend, then yes. In practice, I’d rather not, for the same reason I’d want to create copies of myself if only one existed to begin with.
I agree that the value of society is the value it provides to the people in it. However, I don’t think we should try to maximize the minimum happiness of everyone in the world: that way lies madness. I’d rather create one additional top-quality work of great art or culture than save a thousand additional orphans from starvation.
(If the thousand orphans could be brought up to first-world standards of living, rather than only being given mere existence, then they might produce more than one top-quality work of great art or culture on average between them. But the real world isn’t always that morally convenient.)