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PaperclipPerfector  11mo ago (text post)   26077 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of December 4, 2023

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The thing about reality is that it often forces us to make choices about tradeoffs where it is not really possible to assign particular numerical values in any "objective" sense.

Recognizing that doesn't defeat utilitarianism anymore than it does economics. We assign numerical values under uncertainty out of necessity all the time. We make the craziest things fungible. Fuzzy math tends to be a lot better than no math.

I'd argue utilitarianism is far more honest in its predicates than e.g. the lie that there are supernatural powers that dictate what the rules are or what virtue is. And I'll reiterate that no other moral philosophy has some immunity to weaknesses and fail modes on edge cases.

Sure, but but I'll readily accuse utilitarians of not just using fuzzy math, but no math at all. The supposedly mathematical nature of the philosophy is entirely a sham. No numerical values, no matter how fuzzy or how broadly bounded by uncertainty bars, are ever assigned, other than "number of people affected".

"Too much fake math" vs. "no math at all." Well okay then.

Of which utilitarians do you speak? You're gonna have to cite specific cases for me to give any coherent response. There are certainly bad utilitarians out there with whom I disagree--SBF being perhaps the near-perfect case of being so good at math and yet so bad at basic decision theory (on top of the fraud).

Not every moral quandary requires particular math beyond considering general outcomes and scale, relative to alternatives.

Personally, I think a combo of secular humanism + rule utilitarianism + Tyler Cowen's "economic growth plus human rights" does the job.

Can you give me an example of utilitarians applying mathematics to calculate anything broadly resembling utilons, beyond "number of humans affected"? Any examples of quantification they use?

GDP

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