[ExI] Clark abstract

[Joshua Cowan]

Lee writes:

Snip:

>Of course, this is *not* to say that we should ignore suffering---far
>from it. But our conclusions should be based on a careful weighing
>of costs and benefits, even statistics. It's better, for example, for a
>very few children to starve to death than for millions to be destitute
>and have no propects.  But to grok that last sentence, one needs to
>really understand what "million" means, and most people, sadly,
>don't have that ability in such a context.
>

I can't help wondering if the use of the word "very" as in "very few 
children to starve..." was an unconscious bowing to the underlying 
psychological mechanisms that encourage PC. To be more specific, perhaps 
people will save the few if they are described in more detail and with an 
eye to emotional response (for example, identifying them as children) rather 
than help the "millions" who are less fully realized (millions of people? 
Millions of old people who are about to die anyway...).