/r/negativeutilitarians

Photograph via snooOG

This subreddit is about reducing suffering

Discord Chat : for live chat


Guide for constructive debates: Being nice is consistent with NU. Read this link so that we can minimize conflicts.


FAQ and Wiki : reading for newcomers

/r/negativeutilitarians

4,984 Subscribers

6

Is rescuing animals from factory farms actually wrong from an NU standpoint?

The animal will be almost immediately replaced by a new one that wouldn't have been bred otherwise, so the amount of consciousness moments spent in a factory farm will be almost identical. But additionally, the rescued animal will experience some suffering during its life in a sanctuary. So it seems that rescuing the animal leads to more overall suffering. Am I missing something in this calculation?

Edit: Also, the money spent caring for the rescued animal could have been used for animal rights advocacy for example.

5 Comments
2024/11/28
20:24 UTC

6

What do you think about John Rawls?

0 Comments
2024/11/28
19:42 UTC

4

Thought of a thought experiment and wanna hear your responses

Suppose there is a father who has kids (the amount doesn't matter) and something would happen that would make his kids undergo some amount of suffering. The father decides out of pure curtsy to undergo a sacrifice that would cause him suffering that would surpass the suffering of his children in order to prevent/lessen the suffering of the children. The father does this through his own will and is happy to do this for his children's sake. If an individual could stop the father from undergoing this sacrifice wouldn't they, under negative utilitarianism, have a moral obligation to do so?

44 Comments
2024/11/28
14:54 UTC

1

3 Reasons to Meditate - Roger Thisdell

1 Comment
2024/11/28
10:13 UTC

14

Mental health struggles and NU/SFE

Hi guys,

I'd probably describe my ethical views as very closely aligned with suffering focused ethics, pretty much like the views Magnus Vinding outlines in his book Suffering Focused Ethics and i've held these views for probably around more than 3 years now.

Lately in the past few weeks I can't stop thinking about how much extreme suffering there is in the world, how most likely the future will continue to contain this suffering and I don't know how I can ever be happy given this. I've had a bout of this sort of mental headspace before in the past.

The common theme seems to be that both times (in the past and now) are when I've been living by myself and having more time to think about these topics.

Has anyone ever felt like this before?

Are there any resources which are helpful?

It seems that just being caught up in daily life / personal goals were distracting me before, do I just try to find that balance again?

Right now i'm ruminating on these ideas constantly, and they make everything else seem pointless / irrelevant.

I donate 10% and am vegan and will ramp up donations with further salary increases, I'm trying to get more involved with community too and learning more about AI risk, I need to figure this thing out though. Right now I don't get much enjoyment out of things apart from reading more philosophy and ethics / EA discussions. Even that I wouldn't call it enjoyment...I enjoy listening to history podcasts just because its a good distraction.

6 Comments
2024/11/19
22:10 UTC

4

Is there a community for suffering reduction / NU similar to Hive https://www.joinhive.org/?

I'm aware of the discord but it doesn't seem that active.

2 Comments
2024/11/17
16:08 UTC

5

Will the future be utopian or dystopian? Exploring humanity’s fate In the universe - spacescienceguy

2 Comments
2024/11/08
13:54 UTC

Back To Top