dearieme: “Given that WWII showed that race could be dynamite, it’s surely astonishing that so many rich countries have permitted mass immigration by people who are not only of different race, but often of different religion. Even more astonishing that they’ve allowed some groups to keep immigrating even after the early arrivers from those groups have proved to be failures, economically or socially. Did anyone predict that 60 years ago?”
I thought that the excessive tolerances and the aversion to distinguish groups of people based on factual differences are traits that developed as a result of oversensitization from the events of WWII. Hitler’s people engaged in cruel and unjust discrimination, so all discrimination is now cruel and unjust. Hitler’s people (and others before them) engaged in cruel and gruesome eugenics experiments, so all eugenics are cruel and gruesome.
If Hitler did cruel experiments using pasta, pasta would now be known to be bad for everyone.
Eliezer—the way question #1 is phrased, it is basically a choice between the following:
Be perceived as a hero, with certainty.
Be perceived as a hero with 90% probability, and continue not to be noticed with 10% probability.
This choice will be easy for most people. The expected 50 extra deaths are a reasonable sacrifice for the certainty of being perceived as a hero.
The way question #2 is phrased, it is similarly a choice between the following:
Be perceived as a villain, with certainty.
Not be noticed with 90% probability, and be perceived as a villain with 10% probability.
Again, the choice is obvious. Choose #2 to avoid being perceived as a villain.
If you argue that the above interpretations are then not altruistic, I think the “Repugnant Conclusion” link shows how futile it is to try to make actual “altruistic decisions”.