Hal: as an amoralist, I wouldn’t do it. If there is not enough time to explain to me why it is necessary and convince me that it is necessary, no deal. Even if I thought it probably would substantially increase the future happiness of humanity, I still wouldn’t do it without a complete explanation. Not because I think there is a moral fabric to the universe that says killing babies is wrong, but because I am hardwired to have an extremely strong aversion to like killing babies. Even if I actually was convinced that it would increase happiness, I still might not do it, because I’m still undecided on the idea that some number of people experiencing a refreshing breeze on a hot day is worth more than some person being tortured -- ditto for killing babies.
It seems to me that if you want to find people who are willing to torture and kill babies because “it will increase happiness”, you need to find some extremely moral utilitarians. I think you’d have much better luck in that community than among amoralists ;-).
Hal: as an amoralist, I wouldn’t do it. If there is not enough time to explain to me why it is necessary and convince me that it is necessary, no deal. Even if I thought it probably would substantially increase the future happiness of humanity, I still wouldn’t do it without a complete explanation. Not because I think there is a moral fabric to the universe that says killing babies is wrong, but because I am hardwired to have an extremely strong aversion to like killing babies. Even if I actually was convinced that it would increase happiness, I still might not do it, because I’m still undecided on the idea that some number of people experiencing a refreshing breeze on a hot day is worth more than some person being tortured -- ditto for killing babies.
It seems to me that if you want to find people who are willing to torture and kill babies because “it will increase happiness”, you need to find some extremely moral utilitarians. I think you’d have much better luck in that community than among amoralists ;-).