Meh, this is just the Utility Monster thought experiment. They just
changed the Utility Monster into “Nazis” to make the Repugnant
Conclusion extra repugnant.
Still worth roasting him for thinking he’s geniused up a new
unsolvable logical conundrum.
> It's more about the reaction of people to it, where almost all just accept that the argument is a valid one they have to live with, than the OP itself.
The OP is fine, what isn't fine is the comments section, where people bend over backwards to say nope, Nazis killing Jews is a good thing because the math says so and we just have to accept it.
Oh come on, it’s not an argument for Nazism, it’s an argument against
utilitarianism. There’s plenty of appalling things to sneer at without
inventing ridiculous ones.
Did you not read the comments section? It's more about the reaction of people to it, where almost all just accept that the argument is a valid one they have to live with, than the OP itself.
It seems that, ergo, you would have got off to a better start by pointing to the comments as examples of LessWrong utilitarians defending nazism and variations of the “repugnant conclusion”, rather than to the post itself in a broadside against “modern utilitarianism” as a “flimsy cover for Nazism”
If nothing else, it makes you look - wrongly or not - like your internet consumption has led you to believe that “modern utilitarianism” is satisfied and represented by weird dorks on the rationalism website
Can we not pretend that these rationalists fools are the entirety of
modern utilitarian ethics? Most of them aren’t even good at
utilitarianism. Half of the time they don’t even bother to consider the
cascade effects of whatever bizarre thing they’re proposing.
This can be refuted by tackling the morality of the “Nazi vs the Jew
argument”. Sure they may be happy, but that happiness is not objectively
good and it is based on the suffering of others
Sorry if the refutation is weak. I have brain fog and phone
addiction(sorry if that sounds cringe).
Utilitarianism can defend itself, get over it
Meh, this is just the Utility Monster thought experiment. They just changed the Utility Monster into “Nazis” to make the Repugnant Conclusion extra repugnant.
Still worth roasting him for thinking he’s geniused up a new unsolvable logical conundrum.
Oh come on, it’s not an argument for Nazism, it’s an argument against utilitarianism. There’s plenty of appalling things to sneer at without inventing ridiculous ones.
Can we not pretend that these rationalists fools are the entirety of modern utilitarian ethics? Most of them aren’t even good at utilitarianism. Half of the time they don’t even bother to consider the cascade effects of whatever bizarre thing they’re proposing.
If anyone wants to read the discussion from last time this was posted here
If there’s one thing we know about Nazis its that we can give in to their demands and they’ll be happy and leave everybody else alone forever.
Proof is the comments section, where people unironically take the OP as something that’s true.
This can be refuted by tackling the morality of the “Nazi vs the Jew argument”. Sure they may be happy, but that happiness is not objectively good and it is based on the suffering of others
Sorry if the refutation is weak. I have brain fog and phone addiction(sorry if that sounds cringe).