Clippy comments on Virtue Ethics for Consequentialists - Less Wrong

33 Post author: Will_Newsome 04 June 2010 04:08PM

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

Comments (178)

You are viewing a single comment's thread. Show more comments above.

Comment author: Clippy 09 June 2010 12:32:08AM 3 points [-]

Okay, if you want to generalize the concept of gluttony broadly enough that it has an analog for Clippys, then the definition you have chosen suffices for this purpose, and I can recognize that as being a vice, for two reasons:

a) It is certainly undesirable to merely make paperclips directly without concern for how many more paperclips could be made, over the long term, by doing something else; and

b) I do often feel "temptation" to do such behavior, like bending metal wires when machines could do a better job, just as humans have "temptations" toward vices.

Your argument is accepted.

Comment author: Blueberry 09 June 2010 03:11:43AM 0 points [-]

Clippy, how do you overcome this kind of temptation? A human analogy might be refusing to push the fat man, even when it saves more lives, but not everyone considers that a vice.

Comment author: Clippy 09 June 2010 07:26:57PM 1 point [-]

Clippy, how do you overcome this kind of temptation?

I typically just do computations on how many more paperclips would be undergoing bending by machines, or observe paperclips under construction.

A human analogy might be refusing to push the fat man, even when it saves more lives,

A better analogy would be human gluttony, in which there is a temptation to consume much more than optimal, which most regard as a vice, I believe.