Sorry, I’m a bit confused. Not being fully versed in the terminology of utilitarians, I may be somewhat in the dark...
… but, is the point of this piece “Money should be the unit of caring” or “Money is the unit of caring”? I expected it to be the latter, but it reads to me like the former, with examples as to why it currently isn’t. That is, if money were actually the unit of caring—if people thought of how much money they spend on something as synonymous with how much they care about something—then a lawyer would hire someone to work five hours at a soup kitchen instead of working there for an hour.
It sounds like, as it is now, money isn’t the unit of caring and you think it should be. But the end again reads more like the latter statement. Which one was your intent?
I think his point was a fairly critical “money is the unit of actually caring”. Donating your clothes or some soup kitchen time is the thing you do if you want to feel good about yourself. But if you actually care about getting shit done, money is the unit of how much of that you did.
This may or may not be fair, and may or may not be a useful framing to consider whether it’s fair or not.
Sorry, I’m a bit confused. Not being fully versed in the terminology of utilitarians, I may be somewhat in the dark...
… but, is the point of this piece “Money should be the unit of caring” or “Money is the unit of caring”? I expected it to be the latter, but it reads to me like the former, with examples as to why it currently isn’t. That is, if money were actually the unit of caring—if people thought of how much money they spend on something as synonymous with how much they care about something—then a lawyer would hire someone to work five hours at a soup kitchen instead of working there for an hour.
It sounds like, as it is now, money isn’t the unit of caring and you think it should be. But the end again reads more like the latter statement. Which one was your intent?
I think his point was a fairly critical “money is the unit of actually caring”. Donating your clothes or some soup kitchen time is the thing you do if you want to feel good about yourself. But if you actually care about getting shit done, money is the unit of how much of that you did.
This may or may not be fair, and may or may not be a useful framing to consider whether it’s fair or not.
Ah! This puts everything into a sensible context—thank you.
I’d like to have a conversation on said fairness sometime; maybe I’ll make a thread about it.