When discussing utilitarianism it is important to indicate whether you’re talking about preference utilitarianism or hedonistic utilitarianism, especially in this context.
Right, sorry. I’m referring to total hedonic utilitarianism. Maximize the total amount of pleasure, minimize the total amount of pain, and don’t bother keeping track of which entity experiences the pleasure or pain.
A utilitronium shockwave scenario based on preference utilitarianism, and without any ethical restrictions, is something that even I would find very disturbing.
Indeed. While still a bit muddled on the matter, I lean toward hedonistic utilitarianism, at least in the sense that the only preferences I care about are preferences regarding one’s own emotions, rather than arbitrary external events.
When discussing utilitarianism it is important to indicate whether you’re talking about preference utilitarianism or hedonistic utilitarianism, especially in this context.
Right, sorry. I’m referring to total hedonic utilitarianism. Maximize the total amount of pleasure, minimize the total amount of pain, and don’t bother keeping track of which entity experiences the pleasure or pain.
A utilitronium shockwave scenario based on preference utilitarianism, and without any ethical restrictions, is something that even I would find very disturbing.
Indeed. While still a bit muddled on the matter, I lean toward hedonistic utilitarianism, at least in the sense that the only preferences I care about are preferences regarding one’s own emotions, rather than arbitrary external events.