Is it rational to protect 20 “piggies”...and sacrifice 100 humans
Depends on your goal… If it is the survival of the human colony, then no. If it is the survival of the human race an the piggies hold a key to it, then yes (they do not, in this story). If it is the survival of the pequenino race, then yes. It does not make sense to ask which of the goals is rational, unless you can measure them against something else.
Right. Let’s say that you just value “intelligent life,” though, rather than the humans or pequeninos in particular. Say you’re the hive queen. A piggy is equal to a human and the human race is equal to a human race.
(I worry that I’m still missing the point and the question is moot without first resolving whether you value “diversity” in it’s own right or not, and that such valuing is a preference independent of rational decision making. Still, I feel as if some preferences can be irrational.)
Depends on your goal… If it is the survival of the human colony, then no. If it is the survival of the human race an the piggies hold a key to it, then yes (they do not, in this story). If it is the survival of the pequenino race, then yes. It does not make sense to ask which of the goals is rational, unless you can measure them against something else.
Right. Let’s say that you just value “intelligent life,” though, rather than the humans or pequeninos in particular. Say you’re the hive queen. A piggy is equal to a human and the human race is equal to a human race.
(I worry that I’m still missing the point and the question is moot without first resolving whether you value “diversity” in it’s own right or not, and that such valuing is a preference independent of rational decision making. Still, I feel as if some preferences can be irrational.)