Perhaps a way to consider the question would be “You’re John Smith. If told in advance about this, before it happens, how much do you pay to avoid having A happen? How much do you pay to avoid having B happen? C, D, E, etc.”
Of course, a great deal of this depends on context and not everyone has the same answers. Some people might say “But John Smith doesn’t even know anything happened, and experiences no physical or mental consequences so he can’t be a victim in any usual sense of the word. If I was John Smith I wouldn’t pay a penny to avoid even A.”
Which I guess brings up the question of ‘Does anyone else know and how much do they know, and what does John Smith know about them?’
I mean, there are at least three potential levels of attention I’m envisioning:
1: Unknown entities are doing A-E and they never ask us about it and we can’t tell when it happens in the slightest.
2: John Smith’s buddy Bob says “John, I think unknown entities may have done something from A-E to you last night, but I’m not sure what. I haven’t told anyone else, but I thought you should know, since they did it to you.”
3: John Smith finds out anyone can download John_Smith_Pain.Sim online and that 1 million people have done so in the 24 hours since it happened, even though John Smith is personally unaware of anything that happened in John_Smith_Pain.Sim.
It seems reasonable that John Smith would be willing to pay different amounts of money to avoid 1-3 (and other knowledge combinations that aren’t listed)
Of course, 3 presumably has mental consequences, which may mean that it was implied to be screened off from A.
Perhaps a way to consider the question would be “You’re John Smith. If told in advance about this, before it happens, how much do you pay to avoid having A happen? How much do you pay to avoid having B happen? C, D, E, etc.”
Of course, a great deal of this depends on context and not everyone has the same answers. Some people might say “But John Smith doesn’t even know anything happened, and experiences no physical or mental consequences so he can’t be a victim in any usual sense of the word. If I was John Smith I wouldn’t pay a penny to avoid even A.”
Which I guess brings up the question of ‘Does anyone else know and how much do they know, and what does John Smith know about them?’
I mean, there are at least three potential levels of attention I’m envisioning:
1: Unknown entities are doing A-E and they never ask us about it and we can’t tell when it happens in the slightest.
2: John Smith’s buddy Bob says “John, I think unknown entities may have done something from A-E to you last night, but I’m not sure what. I haven’t told anyone else, but I thought you should know, since they did it to you.”
3: John Smith finds out anyone can download John_Smith_Pain.Sim online and that 1 million people have done so in the 24 hours since it happened, even though John Smith is personally unaware of anything that happened in John_Smith_Pain.Sim.
It seems reasonable that John Smith would be willing to pay different amounts of money to avoid 1-3 (and other knowledge combinations that aren’t listed)
Of course, 3 presumably has mental consequences, which may mean that it was implied to be screened off from A.