thomblake comments on A Sense That More Is Possible - Less Wrong

61 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 13 March 2009 01:15AM

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Comment author: thomblake 08 April 2011 05:59:02PM *  2 points [-]

I disagree, especially here on Lw! When user-Bob tells user-Alice that her behavior is immoral, he's probably setting out to help her maximize her utility function more effectively.

Or at least, that's why I do it. A virtue is a trait of character that is good for the person who has it.

ETA: Otherwise, the argument is fully general. For humanity in general, when Alice says x to Bob, she is trying to enforce a perceived social contract, or score points, or signal tribal affiliation. So, you shouldn't listen to anybody about anything w.r.t. becoming more instrumentally effective. And that seems obviously wrong, at least here.

Comment author: wedrifid 08 April 2011 06:42:32PM 2 points [-]

I disagree, especially here on Lw! When user-Bob tells user-Alice that her behavior is immoral, he's probably setting out to help her maximize her utility function more effectively.

My historical observations do not support this prediction.

Comment author: thomblake 08 April 2011 06:52:27PM 1 point [-]

I submit that if I say, "you should x", and it is not the case that "x is rational", then I'm doing something wrong. Your putative observations should have been associated with downvotes, and the charitable interpretation remains that comments here are in support of rationality.