Yes, people will die horrible flaming deaths and they don’t deserve it. But it’s worth it so I don’t have to walk to work in the morning.
In my humble opinion, even Eliezer sometimes forget that making an argument more shocking doesn’t necessarily make it more correct—more “honest” in a generic fashion, maybe, but abstract “honesty” and practical adherence to one’s values (or utility function for utilitarians) can be totally different things. I asked my dad, who drives quite a lot, and he absolutely would ban all private transportation—in cities at the very least. So would I. That we can say something that reflects awful facts without embellishing it does not absolve us of an inch of moral responsiblity! You should think long and think carefully and feel sorrow and anguish for at least a moment—not as an intuition pump to sway your judgment, but to remind yourself of what you want to want and value to value. Forgive me if I find this bit (if it’s meant literally and not to shock the audience into thinking) to be a naked ethical failure—or at least dangerous laziness—on EY’s part.
(That’s not to say that I disapprove of the rest of the article, or am in denial about the horrible reality of it! It’s an excellent article with just this one low point in my eyes. “If that were true, then… then you’d have a big problem and no easy way to fix it, that’s what you’d have. Does this universe look familiar?”—sure, that’s so, but if anything it’s worse and more reprehensible to use sloppy, spur-of-the-moment ethical judgments in such a hostile environment, especially if those judgments happen to favor your peace of mind and convenience.)
In my humble opinion, even Eliezer sometimes forget that making an argument more shocking doesn’t necessarily make it more correct—more “honest” in a generic fashion, maybe, but abstract “honesty” and practical adherence to one’s values (or utility function for utilitarians) can be totally different things. I asked my dad, who drives quite a lot, and he absolutely would ban all private transportation—in cities at the very least. So would I. That we can say something that reflects awful facts without embellishing it does not absolve us of an inch of moral responsiblity! You should think long and think carefully and feel sorrow and anguish for at least a moment—not as an intuition pump to sway your judgment, but to remind yourself of what you want to want and value to value. Forgive me if I find this bit (if it’s meant literally and not to shock the audience into thinking) to be a naked ethical failure—or at least dangerous laziness—on EY’s part.
(That’s not to say that I disapprove of the rest of the article, or am in denial about the horrible reality of it! It’s an excellent article with just this one low point in my eyes. “If that were true, then… then you’d have a big problem and no easy way to fix it, that’s what you’d have. Does this universe look familiar?”—sure, that’s so, but if anything it’s worse and more reprehensible to use sloppy, spur-of-the-moment ethical judgments in such a hostile environment, especially if those judgments happen to favor your peace of mind and convenience.)