AndrewKemendo comments on Would Your Real Preferences Please Stand Up? - Less Wrong

42 Post author: Yvain 08 August 2009 10:57PM

You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.

Comments (131)

You are viewing a single comment's thread.

Comment author: AndrewKemendo 09 August 2009 01:51:33AM 3 points [-]

So why prefer one theory over the other?

I doubt it is necessary to need to choose one or the other. I would imagine that both theories could be well represented in the population.

Conscious minds are potentially rational, informed by morality, and qualia-laden. Unconscious minds aren't, so who cares what they think?

Are you suggesting that unconscious motivation cannot be changed by the "rational" conscious? I would argue that any significant behavioral modification is doing exactly this. One example that I think demonstrates this well is martial arts training. In the beginning the trainee unconsciously flinches and turns away from an oncoming threat while the trained expert tracks and deflects the threat unconsciously.