Comment by tatabox on A fate worse than death? · 2021-12-14T12:44:40.721Z · LW · GW

This is basically Christian theology with permadeath being the state of hell (which is often referred to as the death of the soul) i.e. irreversible loss of value. At the same time it is believed that any amont of suffering in the current reality will be reversed and eternally compensated in heaven.

If there are no such states then all damage is probably not reversible, and lives have a maximum range in time of about 150 years. If suffering allows for more lives, which are equally suffering, and there is nothing to sustain the claim that it will be reduced in someone, then maintaining these lives is pointless. (In the christian view, there is a transcendent guarantee, that if certain condition are met in conscious choices, then any amount of experienced suffering will be compensated. In an atheistic worldview, there isn't necessarily such a guarantee for all scenarios.)

It should also be noted that suffering probably limits your ability to save lives. So these hypothetical scenarios are never directly causal, and thus mostly unlikely.