> It seems that your analytical process in this is only one-dimensional - maximize impact per dollar. This is reasonable, however it seems to ignore many possible definitions of "impact".
As I said in another post,
> My main point was not "this future is better than that future", but "it is possible to decide which of these two futures is likely to be better".
Yes, I'm ignoring the question of which forms of impact give the most utility. That's something people have to decide for themselves.
I'm saying that it is possible to take two potential actions, look at the potential results, and say "I like the average future of this action more than the average future of that action", even though you don't have perfect knowledge of what the outcomes will be.
I'm saying that I don't think Batman did this.
And I'm saying (though I haven't made it clear) that he's still doing more good than most, in an absolute sense and probably also as a fraction of how much good he could be doing.
And he deserves heaps of praise for this, because I don't want to discourage future Batmans; but I do want future Batmans to do better than this Batman, not because this Batman isn't good but simply because better is possible.
As I said in another post,
> My main point was not "this future is better than that future", but "it is possible to decide which of these two futures is likely to be better".
Yes, I'm ignoring the question of which forms of impact give the most utility. That's something people have to decide for themselves.
I'm saying that it is possible to take two potential actions, look at the potential results, and say "I like the average future of this action more than the average future of that action", even though you don't have perfect knowledge of what the outcomes will be.
I'm saying that I don't think Batman did this.
And I'm saying (though I haven't made it clear) that he's still doing more good than most, in an absolute sense and probably also as a fraction of how much good he could be doing.
And he deserves heaps of praise for this, because I don't want to discourage future Batmans; but I do want future Batmans to do better than this Batman, not because this Batman isn't good but simply because better is possible.