Yes, yes, we are all fundamentally merely computational algorithms running on the same sort of hardware substrate made of stardust, with no fundamental differences between one another. But if one piece of the universe which my algorithms identify as ‘other’ comes towards the piece of the universe which my algorithms identify as ‘myself’ while waving a knife and screaming, I’m still going to treat the ‘other’ differently than I will treat ‘myself’ and give myself’s desire to run a higher priority than the other’s desire to grab my wallet. Other bits of stardust’s algorithms will lead to different behaviours, such as surrendering the wallet freely, and my algorithms find it useful to have words that can describe the different behaviours differently. Thus, even if the underlying theory is false, being able to describe the dichotomy still has value in terms of instrumental rationality, and in this case (using a scifi terminology anology), there is no reason to coin a new word like ‘smeerp’ since the existing term ‘rabbit’ already exists and is generally understood well enough to allow both thought and communication.
I’m not making a handwavy philosophical argument. Pretending that you are at the production-possibility frontier of altruism/egoism is both a result of, and inducing further cognitive distortion.
Thank you for pointing out the term ‘production-possibility frontier’ in this context, which helps clarify some of my thoughts.
As it is, I don’t actually disagree with you, in the main. More than once, I’ve mentioned that it’s often the case that considering both effective altruism and effective egoism (by whatever name) as guides tends to lead towards the same behaviour, in most everyday situations.
Yes, yes, we are all fundamentally merely computational algorithms running on the same sort of hardware substrate made of stardust, with no fundamental differences between one another. But if one piece of the universe which my algorithms identify as ‘other’ comes towards the piece of the universe which my algorithms identify as ‘myself’ while waving a knife and screaming, I’m still going to treat the ‘other’ differently than I will treat ‘myself’ and give myself’s desire to run a higher priority than the other’s desire to grab my wallet. Other bits of stardust’s algorithms will lead to different behaviours, such as surrendering the wallet freely, and my algorithms find it useful to have words that can describe the different behaviours differently. Thus, even if the underlying theory is false, being able to describe the dichotomy still has value in terms of instrumental rationality, and in this case (using a scifi terminology anology), there is no reason to coin a new word like ‘smeerp’ since the existing term ‘rabbit’ already exists and is generally understood well enough to allow both thought and communication.
I’m not making a handwavy philosophical argument. Pretending that you are at the production-possibility frontier of altruism/egoism is both a result of, and inducing further cognitive distortion.
Thank you for pointing out the term ‘production-possibility frontier’ in this context, which helps clarify some of my thoughts.
As it is, I don’t actually disagree with you, in the main. More than once, I’ve mentioned that it’s often the case that considering both effective altruism and effective egoism (by whatever name) as guides tends to lead towards the same behaviour, in most everyday situations.