Your question contains some contradictions, or maybe a confused use of “value”. Value is individual and marginal. If you value your marginal (“next to spend”) $30 equal to a marginal (“next to acquire”) widget, then you won’t buy it at $100. You’ll keep your money and do without the widget.
If you buy the widget, that’s pretty strong evidence that you actually valued it equal or more than the $100.
_until_ you start caring about who’s selling the widget. If you choose to buy from the collective at $100, but wouldn’t buy from FacelessWidgetCorp at that price, then you’re actually doing some mix of donation and purchase. The problem is that you don’t specify what the mix is, and you have no idea if the donation portion is being distributed well. Generally, you’d be closer to your reflective preferences to buy (or not buy) the widget as efficiently as possible, and to make your donation as efficiently as possible.
Some context. I do not, in fact, believe that Kaldor-Hicks efficent actions are inherently moral. But I do think that Kaldor-Hicks efficiency is a pretty good first-pass heuristic. This thought experiment was meant to set up a dilemma between Kaldor-Hicks efficiency (which says to buy) and my moral intuitions (which says not to buy). The problem is that I can’t figure out exactly what my intuition is trying to tell me about what seems to be a fairly straightforward utility-maximizing transfer. For the purposes of this contrived thought experiment, suppose that the only decision is whether or not to buy from the commune. There isn’t an option to donate some or all of the money to GiveDirectly if I choose not to buy. Just buy a widget or buy $100 worth of ice cream.
Eh, I don’t put much weight on moral intuitions in deeply bizarre choices. That’s not what they’re evolved/trained on, and it seems designed to give odd responses. Examining one’s reaction can sometimes be interesting, but it isn’t a good guide to moral truth.
Your ice cream scenario isn’t about you spending $100, it’s about you choosing between ice cream and a commune-provided widget. I don’t see much of interest in that choice.
Past a certain point, this is certainly true. But you need a certain degree of reflection before you can tell whether further reflection is likely to produce valuable insights. Apparently you hit your limit, but I haven’t yet. If you have some reason why you think this is a particularly unenlightening thing to think about, I’d love to hear it, but this seems like a matter of different tastes.
See Vaniver’s comments below his answer for reasons I think this is worth thinking about. I basically agree with them.
Your question contains some contradictions, or maybe a confused use of “value”. Value is individual and marginal. If you value your marginal (“next to spend”) $30 equal to a marginal (“next to acquire”) widget, then you won’t buy it at $100. You’ll keep your money and do without the widget.
If you buy the widget, that’s pretty strong evidence that you actually valued it equal or more than the $100.
_until_ you start caring about who’s selling the widget. If you choose to buy from the collective at $100, but wouldn’t buy from FacelessWidgetCorp at that price, then you’re actually doing some mix of donation and purchase. The problem is that you don’t specify what the mix is, and you have no idea if the donation portion is being distributed well. Generally, you’d be closer to your reflective preferences to buy (or not buy) the widget as efficiently as possible, and to make your donation as efficiently as possible.
Some context. I do not, in fact, believe that Kaldor-Hicks efficent actions are inherently moral. But I do think that Kaldor-Hicks efficiency is a pretty good first-pass heuristic. This thought experiment was meant to set up a dilemma between Kaldor-Hicks efficiency (which says to buy) and my moral intuitions (which says not to buy). The problem is that I can’t figure out exactly what my intuition is trying to tell me about what seems to be a fairly straightforward utility-maximizing transfer. For the purposes of this contrived thought experiment, suppose that the only decision is whether or not to buy from the commune. There isn’t an option to donate some or all of the money to GiveDirectly if I choose not to buy. Just buy a widget or buy $100 worth of ice cream.
Eh, I don’t put much weight on moral intuitions in deeply bizarre choices. That’s not what they’re evolved/trained on, and it seems designed to give odd responses. Examining one’s reaction can sometimes be interesting, but it isn’t a good guide to moral truth.
Your ice cream scenario isn’t about you spending $100, it’s about you choosing between ice cream and a commune-provided widget. I don’t see much of interest in that choice.
Past a certain point, this is certainly true. But you need a certain degree of reflection before you can tell whether further reflection is likely to produce valuable insights. Apparently you hit your limit, but I haven’t yet. If you have some reason why you think this is a particularly unenlightening thing to think about, I’d love to hear it, but this seems like a matter of different tastes.
See Vaniver’s comments below his answer for reasons I think this is worth thinking about. I basically agree with them.