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1. jdthed+(OP)[view] [source] 2024-01-28 11:11:52
What you are missing is that to you, "valuable" continued existence means continuing to produce pointless tech gadgets and indefinitely increasing global GDP or something.

To somebody else it means just living life.

There is no way to objectively argue superiority of one over the other except from a religious worldview.

replies(1): >>strken+Ai
2. strken+Ai[view] [source] 2024-01-28 13:46:14
>>jdthed+(OP)
I don't care about useless gadgets and GDP. I care about people poking around in the Mariana Trench, surveying carnivorous snails, writing and reading novels, and keeping their societies functioning and happy. Please don't damn me for opinions I don't actually hold.

Regarding the superiority of worldviews, sure, subjectivity applies and we could go down the rabbit hole of discussing that - but the comment I was replying to was not about which worldview was better! Vasco said that "Either it's fine for Earth to not have humans ... Or it's not fine ... but if to do that we want to reduce the humans, I don't get it." I'm not going to argue that my values are the best because it's already self-evident to me and I doubt I can improve on the existing work[0], but I am very willing to explain how they're logically consistent.

[0] Via utilitarianism and the repugnant conclusion and onward. I don't think I can do any better than all the philosophers who've debated this.

replies(1): >>jdthed+co
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3. jdthed+co[view] [source] [discussion] 2024-01-28 14:20:50
>>strken+Ai
> Mariana Trench

I mean, you might as well quote me a list of your very personal niche hobbies and the importance of keeping them up as some kind of tradition humanity needs to uphold.

I don't think such a line of argument holds very tight in the grand scheme of things.

To others, enjoying the company of their own children and grandchildren (some of the most commonly shared joys across people, in contrast to niche interests) are far higher up there on their list of priorities of things that make our existence worthwile.

Likewise, utilitarianism won't get you far since the other person must first subscribe to it as a good idea. I don't care about "the greatest good for the majority" in some kind of vague sense whatever it means, if subjectively it means no good to me.

replies(1): >>strken+3B1
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4. strken+3B1[view] [source] [discussion] 2024-01-28 22:49:36
>>jdthed+co
Okay. So? I wasn't telling you to change your values, but explaining to someone else why my own aren't internally inconsistent.
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