Your finger is on the scales with the example of the conservationist. That person’s desires are an applause light, while those of their descendants are a boo light. Switch the two sets of desires and the example is no longer persuasive, if it ever was.
First: I picked this example partly because “cuteness optimization” does seem weird and contrary and unsympathetic. I imagine that to people in the past, our present lack of concern for our literal neighbors, or views on gay marriage, seem just as unsympathetic.
Second: “cuteness” might not be the exact correct framing, but “species extinction to maximize utilons” has a surprising amount of backing to it. In some sense, the story of industrial progress has been one of inadvertent species extinction, and I’m partial to the idea that this was in fact the right path because of the massive number of humans it has made happier (rather than slowing down industrial growth in service to sustainability). Or another example: see this piece arguing that we should desire the extinction of all carnivorous species, due to the massive amount of wild animal suffering imposed by predation.
First: I picked this example partly because “cuteness optimization” does seem weird and contrary and unsympathetic. I imagine that to people in the past, our present lack of concern for our literal neighbors, or views on gay marriage, seem just as unsympathetic.
Second: “cuteness” might not be the exact correct framing, but “species extinction to maximize utilons” has a surprising amount of backing to it. In some sense, the story of industrial progress has been one of inadvertent species extinction, and I’m partial to the idea that this was in fact the right path because of the massive number of humans it has made happier (rather than slowing down industrial growth in service to sustainability). Or another example: see this piece arguing that we should desire the extinction of all carnivorous species, due to the massive amount of wild animal suffering imposed by predation.