First, the grandfather was my first comment in this tree. Check the usernames.
Second, the repugnant conclusion can indeed be applied here, but the idea itself isn’t the repugnant conclusion. In fact, if the number of people-minutes is limited, and the value of a person-minute is proportional to the length of the life that contains that minute, shouldn’t that lead to the Antirepugnant Conclusion (there should only be one person)?
...wait, I just rederived utility monsters, didn’t I.
…wait, I just rederived utility monsters, didn’t I.
Looks like. Which implies optimal is somewhere between one immortal super-entity using all resources of the universe and 10^55 3-gram distinct entities who barely appreciate their existence before being replaced with another.
Whether it’s beneficial to increase or decrease from the current size/duration of entities, I don’t know. Intution is that I would prefer to live longer and be smarter, even at the cost of others, especially others not coming into existence. I have the opposite reaction when asked if I’d give my organs today (killing me) to extend other’s lives by more in aggregate than mine is cut short.
Calling it trivial or saying “sometimes the obvious answer is right” is simply a mistake. The obvious answer is highly suspect.
First, the grandfather was my first comment in this tree. Check the usernames.
Second, the repugnant conclusion can indeed be applied here, but the idea itself isn’t the repugnant conclusion. In fact, if the number of people-minutes is limited, and the value of a person-minute is proportional to the length of the life that contains that minute, shouldn’t that lead to the Antirepugnant Conclusion (there should only be one person)?
...wait, I just rederived utility monsters, didn’t I.
Looks like. Which implies optimal is somewhere between one immortal super-entity using all resources of the universe and 10^55 3-gram distinct entities who barely appreciate their existence before being replaced with another.
Whether it’s beneficial to increase or decrease from the current size/duration of entities, I don’t know. Intution is that I would prefer to live longer and be smarter, even at the cost of others, especially others not coming into existence. I have the opposite reaction when asked if I’d give my organs today (killing me) to extend other’s lives by more in aggregate than mine is cut short.
Calling it trivial or saying “sometimes the obvious answer is right” is simply a mistake. The obvious answer is highly suspect.