I kind of have similar feelings. I’d need an answer for the Mere addition paradox/repugnant conclusion before I could compare these. I do find the conclusion repugnant, so I must take issue with the premises somehow. My current inclination is to reject the first step: the idea that a universe with more lives worth living is better than one with less, but I’m not especially confident that I’ve entirely resolved it that way.
Living in Many Worlds has really influenced my thinking about future population sizes. It’s more important to me that quality of life is high than that we maximize lives barely worth living. That could also be taken to extremes: why not have a population of one? But I think there are good reasons not to take it that far.
I kind of have similar feelings. I’d need an answer for the Mere addition paradox/repugnant conclusion before I could compare these. I do find the conclusion repugnant, so I must take issue with the premises somehow. My current inclination is to reject the first step: the idea that a universe with more lives worth living is better than one with less, but I’m not especially confident that I’ve entirely resolved it that way.
Living in Many Worlds has really influenced my thinking about future population sizes. It’s more important to me that quality of life is high than that we maximize lives barely worth living. That could also be taken to extremes: why not have a population of one? But I think there are good reasons not to take it that far.