by Hello.
I would like to inquire about a budget possibility for those of us who cannot be perfectly utilitarian. Seeing as how being a perfect utilitarian would likely require giving up most earthly pleasures and comforts (and indeed create much displeasure and discomfort), it seems that there are very few people, if any, who can be perfect utilitarians. Utilitarianism would therefore be a matter of scale.
As such, I would propose a budget system according to your place on said scale. A simple form would be a percentage of your extra income, subtracting absolute necessities like rice and beans. By absolute I mean if you were to live in your car (or on the street). This should give you perspective on what you're spending money on simply because you want to.
So, in this scenario, you have a "personal happiness budget" and a "utilitarian budget".
The problem is that sometimes personal happiness conflicts with total utility. This is where I'm suggesting you can donate money from you're "personal happiness budget" to make up, and preferably surpass, the difference. I won't go over the calculations right now because this post is about the concept.
So if I wanted to buy a block of cheese (or a burger, for that matter), I would calculate how much suffering I caused to the cow, then calculate how much to donate to Vegan Outreach (using high numbers, and probably using a multiplier to be safe). I would then take all that money out of my personal happiness budget.
Or if I want to not eat pasta all week (with the accompanied toppings), but instead eat rice and beans and order a vegetarian pizza, for say $50 total, I could.
In reality though, my main use of this would be for things like fortified foods (many vitamins used in fortification are animal derived) and sugar (some of which is processed through bone char).
I am seriously considering adopting this system and would like advice, critique, and comments. One reason I like this system is because there are expensive things I buy simply because they are vegan, but it may be more utilitarian to buy cheap non-vegan food and donate the difference (I saw a similar concept in another post, but that was more theoretical). This system allows me to not blindly waste a lot of money on myself. I think this system also allows me to maximize while not ignoring the "selfish" bias.
What do you all think? Would you adopt this yourself? How should I try to estimate some of these unknown figures?
Furthermore:
What would I tell other people? (I mean, we need to have a good image in order to promote our cause). Could/Should I keep it secret? Lie: Tell people I'm vegan? (though vegetarian might be accurate enough, since I imagine that most vegetarians eat sugar and fortified cereal). Plus, I would also love to eat real ice-cream once in a while.
On a perhaps unrelated note (but fascinating line of inquiry), I want to get good at lucid dreaming so I can eat whatever I want in my dreams (I think I can justify the $200 for the REM Dreamer lucid dream induction mask). I may, however, have to take a bite every now and then to help me conjure my dream taste buds.
Edit: I feel I should say, in case anyone else is seriously considering this, that I think a linear function (like flat percentage) is NOT a good way to go. This is because if you start making lots of money then you only need a small percentage for yourself. On the other hand, you want as much incentive as possible to earn money.
Perhaps a square root function? We are talking money (as apposed to morals), so we can actually come up a useful function where people can enter there own numbers (e.g. necessities and "selfishness").
I would like to inquire about a budget possibility for those of us who cannot be perfectly utilitarian. Seeing as how being a perfect utilitarian would likely require giving up most earthly pleasures and comforts (and indeed create much displeasure and discomfort), it seems that there are very few people, if any, who can be perfect utilitarians. Utilitarianism would therefore be a matter of scale.
As such, I would propose a budget system according to your place on said scale. A simple form would be a percentage of your extra income, subtracting absolute necessities like rice and beans. By absolute I mean if you were to live in your car (or on the street). This should give you perspective on what you're spending money on simply because you want to.
So, in this scenario, you have a "personal happiness budget" and a "utilitarian budget".
The problem is that sometimes personal happiness conflicts with total utility. This is where I'm suggesting you can donate money from you're "personal happiness budget" to make up, and preferably surpass, the difference. I won't go over the calculations right now because this post is about the concept.
So if I wanted to buy a block of cheese (or a burger, for that matter), I would calculate how much suffering I caused to the cow, then calculate how much to donate to Vegan Outreach (using high numbers, and probably using a multiplier to be safe). I would then take all that money out of my personal happiness budget.
Or if I want to not eat pasta all week (with the accompanied toppings), but instead eat rice and beans and order a vegetarian pizza, for say $50 total, I could.
In reality though, my main use of this would be for things like fortified foods (many vitamins used in fortification are animal derived) and sugar (some of which is processed through bone char).
I am seriously considering adopting this system and would like advice, critique, and comments. One reason I like this system is because there are expensive things I buy simply because they are vegan, but it may be more utilitarian to buy cheap non-vegan food and donate the difference (I saw a similar concept in another post, but that was more theoretical). This system allows me to not blindly waste a lot of money on myself. I think this system also allows me to maximize while not ignoring the "selfish" bias.
What do you all think? Would you adopt this yourself? How should I try to estimate some of these unknown figures?
Furthermore:
What would I tell other people? (I mean, we need to have a good image in order to promote our cause). Could/Should I keep it secret? Lie: Tell people I'm vegan? (though vegetarian might be accurate enough, since I imagine that most vegetarians eat sugar and fortified cereal). Plus, I would also love to eat real ice-cream once in a while.
On a perhaps unrelated note (but fascinating line of inquiry), I want to get good at lucid dreaming so I can eat whatever I want in my dreams (I think I can justify the $200 for the REM Dreamer lucid dream induction mask). I may, however, have to take a bite every now and then to help me conjure my dream taste buds.
Edit: I feel I should say, in case anyone else is seriously considering this, that I think a linear function (like flat percentage) is NOT a good way to go. This is because if you start making lots of money then you only need a small percentage for yourself. On the other hand, you want as much incentive as possible to earn money.
Perhaps a square root function? We are talking money (as apposed to morals), so we can actually come up a useful function where people can enter there own numbers (e.g. necessities and "selfishness").
