The idea that—if one big organism arises—it has a small chance of “being you” seems very strange. ISTM that the most likely chance of such a situation arising is if we get a powerful world government.
The idea is that if one big organism arises, you get at least as much utility as if it has a small chance of being you (but probably more), because if the big organism can’t figure out how to merge everyone’s values, it can always pick someone randomly and use his or her values. See also this related comment.
It still doesn’t make much sense to me. The “if” statement seems simply silly: governments simply do not pick someone at random and devote their country’s resources to fulfilling their wishes. They don’t try and “merge everyone’s values” either. The whole thing seems like an idea from another planet to me.
The idea that—if one big organism arises—it has a small chance of “being you” seems very strange. ISTM that the most likely chance of such a situation arising is if we get a powerful world government.
The idea is that if one big organism arises, you get at least as much utility as if it has a small chance of being you (but probably more), because if the big organism can’t figure out how to merge everyone’s values, it can always pick someone randomly and use his or her values. See also this related comment.
It still doesn’t make much sense to me. The “if” statement seems simply silly: governments simply do not pick someone at random and devote their country’s resources to fulfilling their wishes. They don’t try and “merge everyone’s values” either. The whole thing seems like an idea from another planet to me.