I’m befuddled at the average utilitarianism thing.
First—how could the truth of a fact of physics (big worlds) ever be relevant to the truth of an ethical theory like average vs total utilitarianism?
Second—“You just want the average quality of life to be as high as possible, in the future worlds that are your responsibility.” is not AFAIK the same thing as average utilitarianism; average utilitarianism would average across everything, including what’s not your responsibility. This matters for concrete prescriptions.
Third—suppose someone has an extremely high quality of life, but a bit lower than the average; are you really going to tell him you regret his being born? It just seems absurd.
Fourth—it sounds like average utilitarianism requires an unambiguous binary way to decide whether you’re a continuation of some past person-stage.
I’m befuddled at the average utilitarianism thing.
First—how could the truth of a fact of physics (big worlds) ever be relevant to the truth of an ethical theory like average vs total utilitarianism?
Second—“You just want the average quality of life to be as high as possible, in the future worlds that are your responsibility.” is not AFAIK the same thing as average utilitarianism; average utilitarianism would average across everything, including what’s not your responsibility. This matters for concrete prescriptions.
Third—suppose someone has an extremely high quality of life, but a bit lower than the average; are you really going to tell him you regret his being born? It just seems absurd.
Fourth—it sounds like average utilitarianism requires an unambiguous binary way to decide whether you’re a continuation of some past person-stage.