Okay next question. Our understanding of the cellular automaton has advanced to the point where we can change one spot of Bob’s world, at one specific moment in time, without being too afraid of harming Bob. It will have ripple effects and change the swamp around him slightly, though. So now we have 10^30 possible slightly-different potential futures for Bob. He will probably be happy in the overwhelming majority of them. How many should we run to fulfill our moral utility function of making sentients happy?
Okay, point taken. The answer depends on how (one believes) the social utility function responds to new instantiations of sentients that are very similar to existing ones. But in any case, you would be obligated to preserve re-instantiation capability of any already-created being.
The answer depends on how (one believes) the social utility function responds to new instantiations of sentients that are very similar to existing ones.
I don’t think that creation of new sentients, in and of itself, has an impact on the (my) SUF. It only has an impact to the extent that their creators value them and others disvalue such new beings.
Okay next question. Our understanding of the cellular automaton has advanced to the point where we can change one spot of Bob’s world, at one specific moment in time, without being too afraid of harming Bob. It will have ripple effects and change the swamp around him slightly, though. So now we have 10^30 possible slightly-different potential futures for Bob. He will probably be happy in the overwhelming majority of them. How many should we run to fulfill our moral utility function of making sentients happy?
Okay, point taken. The answer depends on how (one believes) the social utility function responds to new instantiations of sentients that are very similar to existing ones. But in any case, you would be obligated to preserve re-instantiation capability of any already-created being.
How does yours?
I don’t think that creation of new sentients, in and of itself, has an impact on the (my) SUF. It only has an impact to the extent that their creators value them and others disvalue such new beings.