So, I have to admit I’m still confused. Is the icecream example fairly unrelated to the introduction and first chapter? They seem to be talking mostly about pure qualia, while the ice-cream example is talking about actions.
I agree qualia is entirely disconnected from rationality, but I think anything beyond qualia such as actions or intending to take actions is rationality fair game so to speak. I don’t see an issue in Bryce assessing the rationality of Ash stopping for ice-cream, it was his communication/social skills that were lacking.
After reading your post very carefully, I think you are agreeing with the above, I just had the opposite impression upon my first and second reading. Apologies if i’m still misunderstandin, either way I find this topic very interesting so thanks for writing this post.
No apologies necessary, it’s possible I wasn’t clear enough!
My main point is that the orthogonality thesis applies to humans too: intelligence and values are distinct things. To judge someone’s actions as irrational, you need to actually understand their values and preferences. If you think they shouldn’t do something because the tradeoff is too high, and they acknowledge the tradeoff but want to do it anyway, that may just reveal preferences different from yours, not necessaril irrationality.
So, I have to admit I’m still confused. Is the icecream example fairly unrelated to the introduction and first chapter? They seem to be talking mostly about pure qualia, while the ice-cream example is talking about actions.
I agree qualia is entirely disconnected from rationality, but I think anything beyond qualia such as actions or intending to take actions is rationality fair game so to speak. I don’t see an issue in Bryce assessing the rationality of Ash stopping for ice-cream, it was his communication/social skills that were lacking.
After reading your post very carefully, I think you are agreeing with the above, I just had the opposite impression upon my first and second reading. Apologies if i’m still misunderstandin, either way I find this topic very interesting so thanks for writing this post.
No apologies necessary, it’s possible I wasn’t clear enough!
My main point is that the orthogonality thesis applies to humans too: intelligence and values are distinct things. To judge someone’s actions as irrational, you need to actually understand their values and preferences. If you think they shouldn’t do something because the tradeoff is too high, and they acknowledge the tradeoff but want to do it anyway, that may just reveal preferences different from yours, not necessaril irrationality.