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It's only literally impossible in an abstract mathematical world where the rule is somehow manifest as a law of nature. In the real world, the rule can be noth
by gress 11y ago
It's only literally impossible in an abstract mathematical world where the rule is somehow manifest as a law of nature.
In the real world, the rule can be nothing more than a belief that is applied by individuals in their decision making. One can easily see how this could lead to a wide range of perverse outcomes, primarily because the idea of a 'utility function' is not a real thing in the world and cannot be universally calculated.
- evanpw 11y agoSo I think you are drawing a distinction between doing what you expect to lead to the greatest increase in utility, and doing what leads to the largest mathematical expectation increase in utility. You're right that the latter is not actually possible, and the former could possibly lead to worse outcomes than following the rules. But this is not a stable equilibrium. 1. If you discover that you're so bad at predicting the consequences of your actions that always following the rules would produce better outcomes, then the good utilitarian thing to do is to give up on your own judgement and follow the rules. 2. If you discover that people you convince to follow utilitarianism end up in situation #1, then the good utilitarian thing to do is to lie to people about your beliefs and convince them to just follow the rules.
- gress 11y agoOver what time frame?