Population Ethics Consistency Test, built with Claude, forces you to bite bullets
lxrjl · x · 2026-09-08
Michael Dickens launched a Population Ethics Consistency Test: 13-17 questions in 15 minutes that checks whether your judgments about population ethics are jointly satisfiable — and if not, shows which unpalatable conclusions (like the repugnant conclusion) you're forced to accept. It's grounded in Parfit's mere addition argument and non-identity problem, Broome's neutrality arguments, and Sen's properties α and β, with format inspired by the Philosophical Health Test. Code and initial prose were generated by Claude Opus 4.8 and 5, then heavily rewritten by the author. On X, lxrjl complained the quiz made him bite a bullet that wasn't even counter-intuitive, while Bella Forristal argued consistency beats having no counter-intuitive beliefs.
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