The proposition is not that “everybody has basically the same values”, it’s more that everybody has basically the same brains, so a meeting of minds should ideally always be possible between humans, even if it doesn’t happen in practice.
And yet, as was pointed out in a Slate Star Codex thread once, nearly everyone has experiences that other people do not, including having access to entire distinct classes of qualia. The usual examples are that some people have and others lack internal dialogue, or the ability to visually imagine things.
In my case, I lack some of the social instincts neurotypicals take for granted, but on the other hand, I know exactly what divine possession feels like and what all the great mystics of history were babbling about, and most people don’t. And our brains aren’t similar enough for me to have much hope of getting people who cannot have that experience to value it.
The proposition is not that “everybody has basically the same values”, it’s more that everybody has basically the same brains, so a meeting of minds should ideally always be possible between humans, even if it doesn’t happen in practice.
No? There exist real living breathing humans that have radically altered brain structure, such as those with one hemisphere removed via surgical procedures or who have a dramatic brain injury.
It’s also not too difficult to imagine in the future with the possibilities of more advanced genetic engineering, there could be viable humans born with brains more similar to chimpanzees or dolphins than 2023 humans.
The proposition is not that “everybody has basically the same values”, it’s more that everybody has basically the same brains, so a meeting of minds should ideally always be possible between humans, even if it doesn’t happen in practice.
And yet, as was pointed out in a Slate Star Codex thread once, nearly everyone has experiences that other people do not, including having access to entire distinct classes of qualia. The usual examples are that some people have and others lack internal dialogue, or the ability to visually imagine things.
In my case, I lack some of the social instincts neurotypicals take for granted, but on the other hand, I know exactly what divine possession feels like and what all the great mystics of history were babbling about, and most people don’t. And our brains aren’t similar enough for me to have much hope of getting people who cannot have that experience to value it.
No? There exist real living breathing humans that have radically altered brain structure, such as those with one hemisphere removed via surgical procedures or who have a dramatic brain injury.
For example, there’s the quite well known Phineas Gage: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phineas_Gage
It’s also not too difficult to imagine in the future with the possibilities of more advanced genetic engineering, there could be viable humans born with brains more similar to chimpanzees or dolphins than 2023 humans.