(Hint: in general, saving lives in poor countries is cheaper than in rich countries. Therefore...)
Here’s the quote saying in so many words that Swedish lives are worth more.
But it now seems more plausible to me that saving a life in a rich country is substantially more important
than saving a life in a poor country, other things being
equal.
The quote does not imply that “we should transfer resources from [African nations] to [Sweden]”, precisely because other things are not equal (in general, saving lives in Africa is cheaper than saving lives in Sweden).
And the fact that Effective Altruists (who usually subscribe to some form of utilitarianism, otherwise why would they care about effectivity of their altruism) generally move money from Sweden (and other rich countries) to Africa, rather then the other way round, should be a sufficient reality check for the author.
The quote doesn’t imply it only in the sense that it states it explicitly.
The cost of a life is not the same , and the contribution of a life to the future utopia is not the same. So utilitarianism cannot make a clear decision, but the author of the quote clearly does lean to Swedish lives counting more—that fact isn’t changed by pointing out that it isn’t an inevitable consequence of u-ism.
Its unreasonable to ignore the future, but utilitarianism about the future is maths with made-up numbers, which is also unreasonable. Looks like utilitarianism is broken.
Here’s the quote saying in so many words that Swedish lives are worth more.
The quote does not imply that “we should transfer resources from [African nations] to [Sweden]”, precisely because other things are not equal (in general, saving lives in Africa is cheaper than saving lives in Sweden).
And the fact that Effective Altruists (who usually subscribe to some form of utilitarianism, otherwise why would they care about effectivity of their altruism) generally move money from Sweden (and other rich countries) to Africa, rather then the other way round, should be a sufficient reality check for the author.
The quote doesn’t imply it only in the sense that it states it explicitly.
The cost of a life is not the same , and the contribution of a life to the future utopia is not the same. So utilitarianism cannot make a clear decision, but the author of the quote clearly does lean to Swedish lives counting more—that fact isn’t changed by pointing out that it isn’t an inevitable consequence of u-ism.
Its unreasonable to ignore the future, but utilitarianism about the future is maths with made-up numbers, which is also unreasonable. Looks like utilitarianism is broken.