First of all, I don’t think that morality is objective as I’m a proponent of moral anti-realism. That means that I don’t believe that there is such a thing as “objective utility” that you could objectively measure.
But, to use your terms, I also believe that there currently exists more “disutility” than “utility” in the world. I’d formulating it this way: I think there exists more suffering (disutility, disvalue, etc.) than happiness (utility, value, etc.) in the world today. Note that this is just a consequence of my own personal values, in particular my “exchange rate” or “trade ratio” between happiness and suffering: I’m (roughly) utilitarian but I give more weight to suffering than to happiness. But this doesn’t mean that there is “objectively” more disutility than utility in the world.
For example, I would not push a button that creates a city with 1000 extremely happy beings but where 10 people are being tortured. But a utilitarian with a more positive-leaning trade ratio might want to push the button because the happiness of the 1000 outweighs the suffering of the 10. Although we might disagree, neither of us is “wrong”.
Similar reasoning applies with regards to the “expected value” of the future. Or to use a less confusing term: The ratio of expected happiness to suffering of the future. Crucially, this question has both an empirical as well as a normative component. The expected value (EV) of the future for a person will both depend on her normative trade ratio as well as her empirical beliefs about the future.
I want to emphasize, however, that even if one thinks that the EV of the future is negative, one should not try to destroy the world! There are many reasons for this so I’ll just pick a few: First of all, it’s extremely unlikely that you will succeed and will probably only cause more suffering in the process. Secondly, planetary biocide is one of the worst possible things one can do according to many value systems. I think it’s extremely important to be nice to other value systems and promote cooperation among their proponents. If you attempted to implement planetary biocide you would cause distrust, probably violence and the breakdown of cooperation, which will only increase future suffering, hurting everyone in expectation.
Below, I list several more relevant essays that expand on what I’ve written here and which I can highly recommend. Most of these link to the Foundational Research Institute (FRI) which is not a coincidence as FRI’s mission is to identify cooperative and effective strategies to reduce future suffering.
I. Regarding the empirical side of future suffering
I would add that—according to MWI—even if you succeed at planetary biocide, it simply means you are removing life from those Everett branches where humanity is able to successfully accomplish planetary biocide. Which are coincidentally also the branches which have highest chance to eliminate or reduce the suffering in the future.
It would be quite sad if the last filter towards achieving paradise would be that any civilization capable of achieving the paradise would realise that it is not there yet and that the best course of action is to kill itself.
First of all, I don’t think that morality is objective as I’m a proponent of moral anti-realism. That means that I don’t believe that there is such a thing as “objective utility” that you could objectively measure.
But, to use your terms, I also believe that there currently exists more “disutility” than “utility” in the world. I’d formulating it this way: I think there exists more suffering (disutility, disvalue, etc.) than happiness (utility, value, etc.) in the world today. Note that this is just a consequence of my own personal values, in particular my “exchange rate” or “trade ratio” between happiness and suffering: I’m (roughly) utilitarian but I give more weight to suffering than to happiness. But this doesn’t mean that there is “objectively” more disutility than utility in the world.
For example, I would not push a button that creates a city with 1000 extremely happy beings but where 10 people are being tortured. But a utilitarian with a more positive-leaning trade ratio might want to push the button because the happiness of the 1000 outweighs the suffering of the 10. Although we might disagree, neither of us is “wrong”.
Similar reasoning applies with regards to the “expected value” of the future. Or to use a less confusing term: The ratio of expected happiness to suffering of the future. Crucially, this question has both an empirical as well as a normative component. The expected value (EV) of the future for a person will both depend on her normative trade ratio as well as her empirical beliefs about the future.
I want to emphasize, however, that even if one thinks that the EV of the future is negative, one should not try to destroy the world! There are many reasons for this so I’ll just pick a few: First of all, it’s extremely unlikely that you will succeed and will probably only cause more suffering in the process. Secondly, planetary biocide is one of the worst possible things one can do according to many value systems. I think it’s extremely important to be nice to other value systems and promote cooperation among their proponents. If you attempted to implement planetary biocide you would cause distrust, probably violence and the breakdown of cooperation, which will only increase future suffering, hurting everyone in expectation.
Below, I list several more relevant essays that expand on what I’ve written here and which I can highly recommend. Most of these link to the Foundational Research Institute (FRI) which is not a coincidence as FRI’s mission is to identify cooperative and effective strategies to reduce future suffering.
I. Regarding the empirical side of future suffering
Reducing Risks of Astronomical Suffering: A Neglected Priority.
Against Wishful Thinking
Risks of Astronomical Future Suffering
II. On the benefits of cooperation
Gains from Trade through Compromise
Differential Intellectual Progress as a Positive-Sum Project
Reasons to Be Nice to Other Value Systems
III. On ethics
Measuring Happiness and Suffering
What Is the Difference Between Weak Negative and Non-Negative Ethical Views?
Are pain and pleasure equally energy-efficient?
I would add that—according to MWI—even if you succeed at planetary biocide, it simply means you are removing life from those Everett branches where humanity is able to successfully accomplish planetary biocide. Which are coincidentally also the branches which have highest chance to eliminate or reduce the suffering in the future.
It would be quite sad if the last filter towards achieving paradise would be that any civilization capable of achieving the paradise would realise that it is not there yet and that the best course of action is to kill itself.