Yes, I think when it comes to endogenous vs exogenous preferences, you are probably accurate about most of the field believing in exogenous preferences (although I’m not sure since I’m also unfamiliar). Rohin Shah once talked about ambiguous value learning, but my guess is that most people aren’t focusing on that direction.
It’s possible that people who believe in exogenous preferences will feel confused if they are described as following Mistake Theory, since exogenous preferences sounds like Conflict Theory, and doesn’t sound like “pursuing an objective morality.”
My personal opinion (and my opinion isn’t that important here), is that humans ourselves follow a combination of endogenous and exogenous preferences. Our morals are very strongly shaped by what everyone around us believe, often more than we realize.
But at the same time, our hardcoded biology determines how our morals get shaped. If we hunt and kill animals for food or sport, but observe the animals we kill following various norms in their animal society, we will not adopt their norms by mere exposure, and be indifferent to their norms. This is because our hardcoded biology did not encode any tendency to care about those animals or to respect their norms.
I agree that studying endogenous preferences, and how to make them go right, is valuable!
Yes, I think when it comes to endogenous vs exogenous preferences, you are probably accurate about most of the field believing in exogenous preferences (although I’m not sure since I’m also unfamiliar). Rohin Shah once talked about ambiguous value learning, but my guess is that most people aren’t focusing on that direction.
It’s possible that people who believe in exogenous preferences will feel confused if they are described as following Mistake Theory, since exogenous preferences sounds like Conflict Theory, and doesn’t sound like “pursuing an objective morality.”
My personal opinion (and my opinion isn’t that important here), is that humans ourselves follow a combination of endogenous and exogenous preferences. Our morals are very strongly shaped by what everyone around us believe, often more than we realize.
But at the same time, our hardcoded biology determines how our morals get shaped. If we hunt and kill animals for food or sport, but observe the animals we kill following various norms in their animal society, we will not adopt their norms by mere exposure, and be indifferent to their norms. This is because our hardcoded biology did not encode any tendency to care about those animals or to respect their norms.
I agree that studying endogenous preferences, and how to make them go right, is valuable!