If you think that (1) net utility of humans is positive and (2) net utility of all animals is negative, and you are minded to try to deal with this by mass-killing, why would you then propose wiping out all animals including humans rather than wiping out all animals other than humans? Or even some more carefully targetted option like wiping out a subset of animals, chosen to improve that negative net utility as much as possible?
Honestly, it probably is. :) Not a bad sign as in you are a bad person, but bad sign as in this is an attractor space of Bad Thought Experiments that rationalist-identifying people seem to keep falling into because they’re interesting.
I like your plan better, gjm. Mass biocide must wait until after we’re no longer so dependent on the biosphere and we can properly target interventions. This is probably a post-singularity question.
If you think that (1) net utility of humans is positive and (2) net utility of all animals is negative, and you are minded to try to deal with this by mass-killing, why would you then propose wiping out all animals including humans rather than wiping out all animals other than humans? Or even some more carefully targetted option like wiping out a subset of animals, chosen to improve that negative net utility as much as possible?
[EDITED to fix screwed-up formatting]
Wow, that had for some reason never crossed my mind. That’s probably a very bad sign.
Honestly, it probably is. :) Not a bad sign as in you are a bad person, but bad sign as in this is an attractor space of Bad Thought Experiments that rationalist-identifying people seem to keep falling into because they’re interesting.
I like your plan better, gjm. Mass biocide must wait until after we’re no longer so dependent on the biosphere and we can properly target interventions. This is probably a post-singularity question.