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

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

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Comment author: RobinHanson 09 August 2009 02:26:46AM *  10 points [-]

Conscious minds are potentially rational, informed by morality, and qualia-laden. Unconscious minds aren't.

Your entire argument for preferring conscious over unconscious minds is this last quick throw away sentence? That's it? Come on, why can't unconscious minds be rational, informed by morality, or qualia-laden? And why are those the features that matter? Are you really implying this is so completely obvious that this one quick sentence is all that needs to be said? Declaring conscious goals to be the goals of the "person", versus unconscious goals as goals of the genome, just presupposes your answer.

Comment author: Vladimir_Nesov 09 August 2009 02:51:41AM 4 points [-]

Clearly, argument for which of the two points of view is the right one wasn't the focus of the post, the problem statement was.