Aw, you done went and cursed that child. What did you do that for?

When I became pregnant with our middle son, we happily announced that we were going to name him after my father. Dad was always pretty funny when he was proud of something. He calmly remained seated in his recliner and stated: "Aw, you done went and cursed that child. What did you do that for?" He didn't even blink but continued to watch the car race on the television.
We did not realize how much truth that statement held but it becomes more and more apparent every day.
What made me really take this to heart was that, when dad passed, my mother gave me his year books and other stuff from his childhood. I knew that dad played basketball (DW loves basketball) and ran track (DW runs like he stole something!) What I did not expect is to open the senior year book and look at a basketball picture that was a dead ringer for my son. O.O What in the world! I kid you not. That faded, black and white picture was our DW from head to toe!
As he gets older, I also see similarities in the things that makes our baby tick that are strikingly so "Dad." It is really scary to watch this (Amazing child) strong young man turn into my father. Let's just hope that the bad habits of smoking 4 packs a day and an affinity for burbon are not on the agenda later on in life...
However, that is not all of the story. DW's middle name is Waddell. While I did not know Calvin's brother much, we named the middle name of our son after him. Well, from what I gather, that was a curse as well because the stories. Calvin has told me snippets of when they were growing up together, being besties and all. WOW. is all I can say because the behaviours there are just as striking as the similarities to my dad.
What have we done? We have created this AMAZING child that is going to be an AMAZING adult if we can get him on the right path right now. Yes, dear readers, my mother once told me that I will grow up and have children that are just as rotten as I was to her. While I do not believe our son is of the rotten sort, he is amazing.
You should see him dissect a video game. Yes, DISSECT! DW is not your average gamer. He is definitely a core gamer but of a different sort. He picks it apart pixel by pixel and takes days to get every square inch of the game figured out and taken care of. A little OCD? Maybe. A friend of mine once marveled at our DW when he was but a toddler and said "Watch him look at the TV! He looks at EVERYTHING on the screen. Not just the action! Wow!" Of course, you know I just thought he was watching TV but it totally engrossed him. His whole face is involved. I see that same look when he is playing Left for Dead or Gears of War or some other game that he has ruthlessly talked me into letting him play.
Yea, maybe it was a curse. However, his namesakes were amazing people too! I prefer to look at it as a gift from them to Calvin and me....by way of my mother's (curse) of course! :)

Does Utilitarianism require that your units of happiness are fulfilled?

Utilitarianism in its most basic form is the greatest amount of happines for the greater good. Defined in units of happiness, basically: the more the merrier. It is based solely on actions and their outcomes. What happens if there is no happiness and no matter the act, no utility becomes of it. What then?

Does that mean that, we are utility empty? I will admit I did take a few philosophy classes and while the concepts still seem abstract, I did catch the basics (or so I thought I did.) Ok. Lets take an example:

One of the problems I remember in the discussion of utility was the subject of capital punishment. While taking the life of someone as punishment is a bit harsh, it does take from the total utility of the world, does it not? Well, you are reducing the units of happiness from the person in the electric chair because the KNOW they are going to die a horrible death. No utility in his corner at all. You are also taking from the utility of the family of the convicted. They are heartbroken by losing their son, brother, cousin, uncle, parent, whatever. While this convict may not be the best person in the world (innocence project aside, lets say he did it, end of story) he was still someone's family member, no matter what. Lost utility for many years to come. Everytime a family member or close friend thinks back upon this person, lost utility units right there. Further, the people who have to do this deed are supposed to be good people, after all, we do not hire convicts and killers and psychopaths to run prisons and be baliffs, guards, etc. They have GOT to lose some of their utility in participating in the act of the capital punishment. Bottome line, lots of lost utility. No doubt.

Conversely.......

The streets are rid of a (possibly) career criminal, the jails are not supporting this convict and the families this person has affected in a bad way (good vs evil argument here?) are happy that he is getting his just desserts. So, where do the scales balance? Well, we have to sacrifice the one for the greater good of the group. Therefore, the sacrifice of the one makes the utility of the whole group better....so the argument goes.

Now, lets think about a totally different scenario but the same basic concept. You have a group of people on an island. In order for the most people to survive and be comfortable, one of them has to be pushed into the pirahna infested waters that surround the island. Due to the ritual involved, it has to be done in such a way that the person pushed into the waters shall perish lest the pirhana god come and devour them all. (Island religion, go figure.) They use the concept of utility to choose the member to be "discarded." While all of them are equal otherwise, how is that you would choose one when all are equal contributing members to the society? Should it be the weakest? The oldest? The youngest? What would you do in this situation?

Were it your family, what choice would that be? Difficult? Yes. For me, I would not want that burden. However, a choice has to be made or everyone will be reduced to zero units of happiness due to the peril of the whole group. While I am very thankful that choices like that are not made in my little corner of the universe, there have been societies that have had to make life or death choices for survival and if you look at the very core of what those choices were, I am certain you can find utility played a part in them.

Off my soapbox now, what are your opinions on utility and what do you attribute to the greatest happiness for the greatest good?

(Sorry folks, random tags so I can generate some discussion here.)