I suppose you’re on the money with distaste for other’s utopias, because I think the idea of allowing people to choose choices that destroy most of their future value (without some sort of consultation) is a terrible thing. Our brains and culture are not build to grasp the size of choices like “choosing to live to 80 instead of living forever” or “choosing a right to boredom vs. an optimized experience machine”. Old cultural values that death brings meaning to life or that the pain of suffering is intrinsically meaningfully will have no instrumental purpose in the future, so it seems harsh to let them continue to guide so many people’s lives.
Without some new education/philosophy/culture around these choices, many people will either be ignorant of their options or have preferences that make them much worse off. You shouldn’t just give the sentinelese the option of immortality, but provide some sort of education that makes the consequences of their choices clear beforehand.
This is a very difficult problem. I’m not a strict utilitarian, so I wouldn’t support forcing everyone to become hedonium. Personal preferences should still matter. But it’s also clear that extrapolating our current preferences leaves a lot of value on the table, relative to how sublime life could be.
I suppose you’re on the money with distaste for other’s utopias, because I think the idea of allowing people to choose choices that destroy most of their future value (without some sort of consultation) is a terrible thing. Our brains and culture are not build to grasp the size of choices like “choosing to live to 80 instead of living forever” or “choosing a right to boredom vs. an optimized experience machine”. Old cultural values that death brings meaning to life or that the pain of suffering is intrinsically meaningfully will have no instrumental purpose in the future, so it seems harsh to let them continue to guide so many people’s lives.
Without some new education/philosophy/culture around these choices, many people will either be ignorant of their options or have preferences that make them much worse off. You shouldn’t just give the sentinelese the option of immortality, but provide some sort of education that makes the consequences of their choices clear beforehand.
This is a very difficult problem. I’m not a strict utilitarian, so I wouldn’t support forcing everyone to become hedonium. Personal preferences should still matter. But it’s also clear that extrapolating our current preferences leaves a lot of value on the table, relative to how sublime life could be.