This has always been how I thought about it. (I consider myself approximately an Average Utilitarian, with some caveats that this is more descriptive than normative)
One person who disagreed with me said: “you are not randomly born into ‘a person’, you are randomly born into ‘a collection of atoms.’ A world with fewer atoms arranged into thinking beings increases the chance that you get zero utility, not whatever the average utility from among whichever patterns have developed consciousness”
I disagree with that person, but just wanted to float it as an alternate way of thinking.
It’s the difference between SIA and SSA. If you work with SIA, then you’re randomly chosen from all possible beings, and so in world B you’re less likely to exist.
This has always been how I thought about it. (I consider myself approximately an Average Utilitarian, with some caveats that this is more descriptive than normative)
One person who disagreed with me said: “you are not randomly born into ‘a person’, you are randomly born into ‘a collection of atoms.’ A world with fewer atoms arranged into thinking beings increases the chance that you get zero utility, not whatever the average utility from among whichever patterns have developed consciousness”
I disagree with that person, but just wanted to float it as an alternate way of thinking.
It’s the difference between SIA and SSA. If you work with SIA, then you’re randomly chosen from all possible beings, and so in world B you’re less likely to exist.