But in fact almost all s-risks occur precisely because of civilizations that hate suffering
It seems just as plausible to me that suffering-hating civilizations reduce the overall amount of suffering in the multiverse, so I think I’d wait until it becomes clear which is the case, even if I was concerned exclusively with suffering. But I haven’t thought about this question much, since I haven’t had a reason to assume an exclusive concern with suffering, until you started asking me to.
To be clear, even if we have modest amounts of moral uncertainty I think it could easily justify a “wait and see” style approach. But if we were committed to a suffering-focused view then I don’t think your argument works.
Earlier in this thread I’d been speaking from the perspective of my own moral uncertainty, not from a purely suffering-focused view, since we were discussing the linked article, and Kaj had written:
The article isn’t specifically negative utilitarian, though—even classical utilitarians would agree that having astronomical amounts of suffering is a bad thing. Nor do you have to be a utilitarian in the first place to think it would be bad: as the article itself notes, pretty much all major value systems probably agree on s-risks being a major Bad Thing
What’s your reason for considering a purely suffering-focused view? Intellectual curiosity? Being nice to or cooperating with people like Brian Tomasik by helping to analyze one of their problems?
It seems just as plausible to me that suffering-hating civilizations reduce the overall amount of suffering in the multiverse, so I think I’d wait until it becomes clear which is the case, even if I was concerned exclusively with suffering. But I haven’t thought about this question much, since I haven’t had a reason to assume an exclusive concern with suffering, until you started asking me to.
Earlier in this thread I’d been speaking from the perspective of my own moral uncertainty, not from a purely suffering-focused view, since we were discussing the linked article, and Kaj had written:
What’s your reason for considering a purely suffering-focused view? Intellectual curiosity? Being nice to or cooperating with people like Brian Tomasik by helping to analyze one of their problems?
Understanding the recommendations of each plausible theory seems like a useful first step in decision-making under moral uncertainty.