Ethics as Wealth-Maximization

Ethics can be seen as "wealth-maximization", where quality of life is the wealth. But perhaps there is a different way of being ethical, that is less quantitative, or less economic in vibe. What would ethics be in a world without possession, where people meet each other only as people, not as rich or beautiful, or kind or patient? You and nothing but you, meeting someone else and no more. Or maybe there's a less "Buberian" way to avoid the wealth-maximization interpretation of ethics. Perhaps deontological ethics can ignore wealth, and have absolutes that are not part of a larger economy.

A truly moral person sometimes forgets the larger economy and lives only in the moment. You test yourself against your moment, not trying to make all the moments good. Making all moments good is possible perhaps only if we are economic and additive, utilitarian. If you cause other people distressing moments, then they can test themselves against such moments. The value in life comes from whether you pass the test, which reflects on you, rather than the quality of your circumstances, which does not. So if persons are valuable in themselves, in that way, what remains to those who seek to benefit all beings is to teach people to make good choices in whatever circumstance they are in, and to keep people from dying so that they continue to exist. And maybe even keeping people alive so that they keep existing is not essential, because the fact of a good person having existed remains even after the extinction of the human race.