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Notes -
Yes, but, well, this of course throws the apparatus of game theory out of the window and reduces your argument to "everyone's looking for something" or less than that.
Anyone who's selling you game theory that contains unexamined utility comparisons between agents is bullshitting.
Note that for instance EA does not do this - it usually starts with the premise of "all human lives have the same worth", which is a valid assignment, and has several charming properties such as being very simple and universal. But if you used a different assignment, it wouldn't be wrong from a utilitarian perspective. The power of EA comes from the fact that most people already profess to have this belief.
Also, classical hedonic utilitarianism defines, by fiat, utility as a qualia of happiness, which being a physical effect in the brain can then be empirically compared. I believe the problems with that are well-known. :) But again, it's a valid assignment, much as it turns the cosmos into a dense farm of amoebas having continuous orgasms.
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