“The Moral Two Envelopes Problem and the Moral Weights Project” by Derek Shiller

This post is an overview of the Moral Two Envelopes Problem and a take on whether it applies to Rethink Priorities' Moral Weights Project. It is a product of discussions between myself, Michael St. Jules, Hayley Clatterbuck, Marcus Davis, Bob Fischer, and Arvo Muñoz Morán, but need not reflect anyone's views but my own. Thanks to Brian Tomasik, Carl Shulman, and Michael St. Jules for comments. Michael St. Jules discusses many of these issues in depth in a forum post earlier this year. Introduction When deciding how to prioritize interventions aimed at improving the welfare of different species of animals, it is critical to have some sense of their relative capacities for wellbeing. Animals’ welfare capacities are, for the most part, deeply uncertain. Our uncertainty stems both from the gaps in our understanding of the cognitive faculties and the behaviors of different species, which constitute the external evidence of [...] ---Outline:(00:37) Introduction(02:34) Moral Two Envelopes Problem(06:09) Three Related Issues(06:48) The Pinning Problem(08:59) The Ratio Incorporation Problem(11:10) The Metric Locality Problem(14:39) Avoiding These Issues(15:03) Pinning to Humans(19:28) Assuming a Normative Theory(23:44) Calibrating Through Shared Assessments(26:10) ConclusionThe original text contained 12 footnotes which were omitted from this narration. --- First published: October 15th, 2024 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/wHvpejaZYuXpMSMpf/the-moral-two-envelopes-problem-and-the-moral-weights --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.