“Shut up and multiply” doesn’t assume specifically total utilitarianism, you can value lives sublinearly and still hold important the principle of not just relying on intuition.
It seems to me that besides not just relying on feelings and intuitions, “compute” has the connotation that we already know what the right morality is, and can just apply it mechanically, and “multiply” has the additional connotation that the right morality values lives linearly. Shouldn’t we use the phrase that most accurately conveys our intended meanings?
Vladmir makes a good point. Multiply has the connotation that expected outcomes are best determined by probability. It doesn’t comment on whether one should value lives linearly (or at all). It does imply utilitarianism. At least, it implies that the expected outcome is significantly relevant to your decision. I’m not sure what Vladmir means by ‘total utilitarianism’.
It seems to me that besides not just relying on feelings and intuitions, “compute” has the connotation that we already know what the right morality is, and can just apply it mechanically
“Shut up and multiply” doesn’t assume specifically total utilitarianism, you can value lives sublinearly and still hold important the principle of not just relying on intuition.
Compare:
shut up and think
shut up and compute
shut up and multiply
It seems to me that besides not just relying on feelings and intuitions, “compute” has the connotation that we already know what the right morality is, and can just apply it mechanically, and “multiply” has the additional connotation that the right morality values lives linearly. Shouldn’t we use the phrase that most accurately conveys our intended meanings?
Vladmir makes a good point. Multiply has the connotation that expected outcomes are best determined by probability. It doesn’t comment on whether one should value lives linearly (or at all). It does imply utilitarianism. At least, it implies that the expected outcome is significantly relevant to your decision. I’m not sure what Vladmir means by ‘total utilitarianism’.
I agreed up to here.