But in that world, defecting to ensure your own short-term gain is best replaced with wireheading; nothing fragile survives anyway, so why rob and oppress other brains for a fleeting illusion of contentment? Therefore, we should find happiness in simple things, avoid increasing strife and competition for resources and, ideally, just stop being troubled by the whole mess.
I don’t need gains to be “eternal” or “non-fragile” to count. Remember our debate about the “Hansonian hell word”, where I pointed out that a few centuries of human minds living in plenty followed by aeons of alien minds isn’t really a “hell world” to me?
My conclusions about the world simply mean that I have centuries or decades instead of billions of years of minds I care about arranging matter. I don’t find such a shortening a convincing reason to embrace counterfeit utility with wire-heading.
So you’ve no reinforcing reasons to give up your own fleeting well-being for anyone else’s sake, especially that of far people? Well, at least that’s honest. But I still want to aim for more than temporary gratification when deciding what to do—partly because I still feel very irresponsible and worried when trying not to care about what I see in society.
Sure, of course you care. I meant, well, I’ll think of how to explain it. But basically I’m talking about quasi-religious values again. I have this nagging feeling that we’re hugely missing out on both satisfaction and morality for not understanding their true use.
Ok I hope you can write it out because it sounds interesting. But let me pose a query of my own.
You seem to think that over a period a few billion years means that real utility optimization should occur rather than going for wire-heading. And think that if limited to a few centuries counterfeit utility is better. How would you feel about 10 000 years of the values you cherish followed by a alien or empty universe? What about 10 million years?
If it makes you feel better if everything I cared was destined to disappear tomorrow I think I would go for some wire-heading, so I guess we are just on different spots on the same curve. Is this so?
I’m thinking. But keep in mind that I’m basically a would-be deontologist; I’m just not sure what my deontic ethics should be. If only I could get a consistent (?) and satisfying system, I’d be fine with missing out on direct utility. I know, for humans that’s as impossible as becoming an utility maximizer, because we’re the antithesis of “consistency”.
But in that world, defecting to ensure your own short-term gain is best replaced with wireheading; nothing fragile survives anyway, so why rob and oppress other brains for a fleeting illusion of contentment? Therefore, we should find happiness in simple things, avoid increasing strife and competition for resources and, ideally, just stop being troubled by the whole mess.
Oops, looks like I accidentally Buddhism.
I don’t need gains to be “eternal” or “non-fragile” to count. Remember our debate about the “Hansonian hell word”, where I pointed out that a few centuries of human minds living in plenty followed by aeons of alien minds isn’t really a “hell world” to me?
My conclusions about the world simply mean that I have centuries or decades instead of billions of years of minds I care about arranging matter. I don’t find such a shortening a convincing reason to embrace counterfeit utility with wire-heading.
So you’ve no reinforcing reasons to give up your own fleeting well-being for anyone else’s sake, especially that of far people? Well, at least that’s honest. But I still want to aim for more than temporary gratification when deciding what to do—partly because I still feel very irresponsible and worried when trying not to care about what I see in society.
The set of minds I care about obviously includes my own but isn’t limited to it!
Sure, of course you care. I meant, well, I’ll think of how to explain it. But basically I’m talking about quasi-religious values again. I have this nagging feeling that we’re hugely missing out on both satisfaction and morality for not understanding their true use.
Ok I hope you can write it out because it sounds interesting. But let me pose a query of my own.
You seem to think that over a period a few billion years means that real utility optimization should occur rather than going for wire-heading. And think that if limited to a few centuries counterfeit utility is better. How would you feel about 10 000 years of the values you cherish followed by a alien or empty universe? What about 10 million years?
If it makes you feel better if everything I cared was destined to disappear tomorrow I think I would go for some wire-heading, so I guess we are just on different spots on the same curve. Is this so?
I’m thinking. But keep in mind that I’m basically a would-be deontologist; I’m just not sure what my deontic ethics should be. If only I could get a consistent (?) and satisfying system, I’d be fine with missing out on direct utility. I know, for humans that’s as impossible as becoming an utility maximizer, because we’re the antithesis of “consistency”.