@ZachWeiner I feel like "total value to all future people" is so abstract a quantity as to be equivalent to "intrinsic worth". I guess a thought experiment to differentiate could be "if all conscious life were to die out tomorrow, would there still be harm in losing the Mona Lisa today?"
@ZachWeiner I mean it's definitely a classic here in France but if you haven't read Cyrano de Bergerac by Rostand, I find it extremely charming, perhaps more than a play has any right to be