@cshentrup @jwmason you can't read minds or "actual utility" (an ill-formed idea), but your values can insist that desserts plus starvation is inferior to everybody gets a meal. who knows? maybe someone you've denied a dessert really savors sweets, and in terms of some hypothetical utility that'd be worth a starvation or two. nevertheless, i'm happy to let values about life's priority guide us rather than that hypothetical.

i agree that the best way to deal with all this is reduce inequality!