Endurists: Death as the ultimate evil (life at all costs).
Serenists: Suffering as the ultimate evil (non-existence over agony).
I don’t think I fit into this framework, and I reject the “ultimate evil” concept. Death is currently and generally disprefered. Suffering sucks as well and I’d like to minimize it. The question of which is better/worse depends on the distribution of possible futures, and there are (probably) cases I’d choose death, and (probably) cases I’d choose suffering. Especially in situations where suffering has option value—I can choose death later, when I have more information about the distribution of possible futures, or more information about my own mind and it’s reaction to suffering.
I also acknowledge that it’s very hard to measure suffering (or joy) in a rigorous comparable way—this means I have very little standing to judge someone on their choice for themselves. And I tend to be a bit assymetric in my advice and preferences-for-others: I recommend endurism to people who aren’t fully certain over a fairly long period of time (say, 2 human lifetimes...), and I’m not sure I’d choose it for some levels or kinds of suffering.
I don’t think I fit into this framework, and I reject the “ultimate evil” concept. Death is currently and generally disprefered. Suffering sucks as well and I’d like to minimize it. The question of which is better/worse depends on the distribution of possible futures, and there are (probably) cases I’d choose death, and (probably) cases I’d choose suffering. Especially in situations where suffering has option value—I can choose death later, when I have more information about the distribution of possible futures, or more information about my own mind and it’s reaction to suffering.
I also acknowledge that it’s very hard to measure suffering (or joy) in a rigorous comparable way—this means I have very little standing to judge someone on their choice for themselves. And I tend to be a bit assymetric in my advice and preferences-for-others: I recommend endurism to people who aren’t fully certain over a fairly long period of time (say, 2 human lifetimes...), and I’m not sure I’d choose it for some levels or kinds of suffering.