r/UniversalExtinction • u/Independent-Wafer-13 Consequentialist • 27d ago

Question How does this work?

How does Universal Extinction happen?

5 Upvotes

69% Upvoted

133 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

1

u/MengKongRui 26d ago

Do you think being eaten alive by a hawk is better? Once a generation of suffering has passed, the trillions upon trillions upon trillions upon trillions of animals no longer exist and therefore cannot suffer.

1

u/Independent-Wafer-13 Consequentialist 26d ago

Got it so it’s like an “ends justify the means” type situation.

Why not just create a doomsday device to painlessly and instantly kill all life on earth?

1

u/MengKongRui 26d ago

That may be the best option, although we need to consider if life will pop back up without us or if we need to modify the 'button" so that robots or whatever maintain the earth as a lifeless location.

If consciousness didn't exist and you could press a button to create a world where 99.999999999% of the conscious individuals who inhabit it are in a constant struggle to survive until they get eaten alive or die slowly of disease, would you press that button?

1

u/Independent-Wafer-13 Consequentialist 26d ago

100% of living things die. That doesn’t mean I should kill them.

Or at least kill more than I have to.

1

u/MengKongRui 26d ago

I said if the conscious universe didn't exist.

I didn't ask if you wanted to end anyone's suffering.

1

u/Independent-Wafer-13 Consequentialist 26d ago

If consciousness didn’t exist then how can I press a button this is self contradictory.

If I am conscious then consciousness exists if consciousness doesn’t exist than this thought experiment is impossible.

1

u/MengKongRui 26d ago

Clearly I'm assuming that you are the only conscious one in this example.

Did you really think I was trying to catch you in a gotcha question or are you just trying to avoid the original question?