The first case is closer to my view, but it’s not about emotions getting maxed out. It’s more about “voting power” being equalized between people, so you can’t get a billion times more voting power by caring about a billion people. You only get a fixed amount of votes to spread between outcomes. That’s how I imagine negotiation to work, though it’s still very handwavey.
Okay, but now you’ve basically defined “increasing utility” out of existence? If voting power is roughly normalised, then it’s roughly equally important to save the life of an immensely happy, satisfied teenager with a bright future, and a nearly-suicidal retiree who’s going to die soon anyway, as long as staying alive is the strongest relevant desire for both. In fact, it’s even worse: assuming the teenager has a strong unreciprocated crush, then I can construct situations where only 1⁄2 of their voting power will go towards saving themselves, so their life is effectively half as valuable as a loner.
The first case is closer to my view, but it’s not about emotions getting maxed out. It’s more about “voting power” being equalized between people, so you can’t get a billion times more voting power by caring about a billion people. You only get a fixed amount of votes to spread between outcomes. That’s how I imagine negotiation to work, though it’s still very handwavey.
Okay, but now you’ve basically defined “increasing utility” out of existence? If voting power is roughly normalised, then it’s roughly equally important to save the life of an immensely happy, satisfied teenager with a bright future, and a nearly-suicidal retiree who’s going to die soon anyway, as long as staying alive is the strongest relevant desire for both. In fact, it’s even worse: assuming the teenager has a strong unreciprocated crush, then I can construct situations where only 1⁄2 of their voting power will go towards saving themselves, so their life is effectively half as valuable as a loner.
I don’t think that’s a big problem as long as there are enough people like you, whose altruistic desires slightly favor the teenager.