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Most, if not all, of these problems can be done away with if you don't assume that utility is linear, but e.g. logarithmic. Then things like enjoing one cookie
by IsTom 5y ago
Most, if not all, of these problems can be done away with if you don't assume that utility is linear, but e.g. logarithmic.
Then things like enjoing one cookie slightly more than somebody else isn't a problem, because enjoyment of ten cookies is not much greater than enjoyment of nine cookies and you can have a spare one for somebody else.
- pdonis 5y ago> Most, if not all, of these problems can be done away with if you don't assume that utility is linear, but e.g. logarithmic. Really? You picked the easiest example in the article. Try a more interesting one, like, say, organ harvesting: how does logarithmic utility deal with that?
- whatamota 5y agoSecond order effects. If the past few decades have shown anything, its the second order effects that are much more important than any single effect. What is the second order effect in this case? "Humans might be killed for organ harvesting. This leads to widespread uncertainty over who would be killed next. And uncertainty leads to other issues."
- function_seven 5y agoRawls’ Veil of Ignorance[0] is a fantastic tool for evaluating these things. For the organ harvesting scenario, if you were behind the veil and had to choose what society you'd enter, would you choose to go to the one where a yearly physical might end up with you dead while you're parted out for others in the hospital—and also might mean you get your organ replacement lickety-split should you need one—or would you rather go to the one where this does not happen? [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Original_position https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Original_position
- IsTom 5y agoIf it comes to idealised organ harvesting: I honestly don't know morally which side of the trolley problem (which this one is an instance of) is the one to be picked, so it's unclear to me what side is the right one. Remember that you're a few times more likely to receive an organ than to donate all organs in this case. When it comes to "real" case: it causes distress to the whole population and transplanted organs have consequences (e.g. immunosupressants) that lower their value.
- pdonis 5y agoI don't understand the difference between "idealized" and "real" organ harvesting. Unless "idealized" just means "ignoring all the actual hard questions involved". In any case, your claim that I responded to was that "most, if not all, of these problems can be done away with" by adopting logarithmic instead of linear utility. You haven't said anything about how logarithmic utility "does away with" the problem of deciding whether organ harvesting is ethical. Or about any other of the scenarios in the article except the cookie one. So it looks to me like you are backing off from your original claim.