Mati_Roy answers What ethical thought experiments can be reversed?

[Mati_Roy]

Utility monster

Original:

1. We care about increasing happiness

2. If there was a being that had by far the highest capacity for happiness, they might be the best way to increase happiness even at the cost of everyone else

3. We care about utility monsters the most (which violates the egalitarian intuition)

Reversed:

1. We care about each beings equally

2. If there was a being that had by far the highest capacity for happiness, we still wouldn’t give them more resources

3. We don’t care about increasing total happiness