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Date: Mon, 30 Oct 2006 11:25:01 -0500
To: improvetheworld &AElig umich.edu
From: Dave Morris <thecat &AElig umich.edu>
Subject: Re: social welfare + fairness + knowledge
Status: O
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I think that it's important to note that 2 & 3, while distinct and 
interesting components of the discussion, are in fact subsets of 1, 
which could be rephrased in it's general sense as "maximization of 
utility" if you don't want to treat only the defined subset of "human". 
:-)

On Oct 28, 2006, at 1:30 PM, Daniel Reeves wrote:

> Based on off-line discussion with my grandfather, I propose that there 
> are only three fundamental principles worth fighting for in human 
> society:
>   1. Social Welfare
>   2. Fairness
>   3. The Search for Knowledge
>
> (This started with an argument about the parental retort "who says 
> life's supposed to be fair?")
>
>   (1 and 2 are distinct because if we're all equally miserable, that's
>   fair but not welfare maximizing.  Likewise, of the methods for 
> dividing
>   a cake, for example, the method of "I get all of it" maximizes the 
> sum
>   of our utilities, but we nonetheless prefer splitting it in half.)
>
> Is there a number 4?
>
> -- 
> http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/dreeves  - -  search://"Daniel Reeves"
>
>
>
David P. Morris, PhD
Senior Engineer, ElectroDynamic Applications, Inc.
morris &AElig edapplications.com, (734) 786-1434, fax: (734) 786-3235