Episode Details
Back to Episodes“Population ethics is a big deal, which is why I made this population ethics quiz” by MichaelDickens
Description
TLDR: Take the population ethics quiz here: https://mdickens.me/pop-ethics/
Population ethics is an oft-overlooked subfield within ethics. Many people hold views that they don't realize contradict each other, or that have strange implications that they wouldn't endorse if they thought about it more.
Not just that—population ethics is a BIG DEAL. A lot of ethical decisions hinge on how you think about changes in future populations.
I'll give concrete examples below, but reading the examples might change your answers, so you should take the quiz first. It has 13 to 17 short questions. (Questions are skipped when they can't affect the results.)
Cross-posted from my website.
Nobody gets to ignore population ethics
There is no version of population ethics where you can just say, "Whatever feels intuitively right is what's right." Common-sense views on population ethics cannot all be true.
The quiz illustrates that fact. It asks you some questions about how you judge different situations involving varying populations. Then, based on your answers, it figures out:
- Do your views contradict each other?
- Do your views have counterintuitive implications that most people would dislike?
Answers are always contradictory [...]
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Outline:
(00:56) Nobody gets to ignore population ethics
(02:07) Concrete scenarios where population ethics matters
(02:19) Example 1: Child mortality vs. family planning
(04:14) Example 2: Environmentalism
(05:52) About the quiz
(07:24) AI usage disclosure
(07:56) Source code
The original text contained 26 footnotes which were omitted from this narration.
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First published:
August 31st, 2026
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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.