I'm not a utilitarian but I'd be interested in reading any suggestions you would give as to how utilitarians could go about maximizing the ratio of happiness to suffering (or preference satisfaction - preference frustration) in 'mundane', everyday scenarios.

I'll start :

Standing on a street corner in a large city and handing out flowers to people while wishing them a good day

Dressing up as a clown or Santa Clause or in some way entertaining sick children at a hospital

Giving some complete stranger $100 (maybe by mail, maybe by walking up to them and handing it to them in person)

Cooking a (healthy, vegan) meal for a homeless person


etc.

I'm far too cold and standoffish by temperament to do most of these things (hence, not considering myself to be a utilitarian) but I think the topic and possibilities are exciting.

Add on..

I tend to advocate three very high-value activities for utilitarians: (1) earning more and spending less in order to donate money to effective non-profits, (2) consuming less animal products, and (3) appropriate advocacy of these and other utilitarian ideas.

peterhurford wrote:I tend to advocate three very high-value activities for utilitarians: (1) earning more and spending less in order to donate money to effective non-profits, (2) consuming less animal products, and (3) appropriate advocacy of these and other utilitarian ideas.

These are good suggestions.