Eugine_Nier comments on Luminosity (Twilight fanfic) Part 2 Discussion Thread - Less Wrong

6 Post author: JenniferRM 25 October 2010 11:07PM

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Comment author: wedrifid 18 November 2010 08:09:34AM *  1 point [-]

My values, transposed into the position of a vampire in Luminosiverse, yes. I would be a predator, choosing among prey of two species that are not my own. There isn't anything magical about humanity and there is real value in maintaining a whole species. Particularly something as awesome as wolves. More so in a universe in which the species has magical significance.

As I mentioned, I'd eat someone's pet cat instead. But if it came down to a pure choice between eating wolves to extinction or eating a human then vampire wedrifid would eat a human.

Ultimately, if you bite the bullet on "Shut up and Multiply" then it turns out that you have to Shut up and Divide as well. A single human just isn't worth six billion times as much as the wolf species. In Bella's case she isn't doing a whole species worth of damage in one feed (which is, of course, hard to imagine) so the multiplicative factor isn't quite so large. But even so, her choice isn't a good one. Particularly given the ridiculous number of alternatives she had available.

Bella also can't be expected to Shut up and Multiply. If she follows in the author's footsteps she does not even implement consequentialism. But Bella's reasons for behaving unethically are not important.

Comment author: Eugine_Nier 18 November 2010 08:38:49AM 2 points [-]

There isn't anything magical about humanity and there is real value in maintaining a whole species.

Yes there is. Humans are sapient.

BTW, what do you find so magical about maintaining a whole species?

Comment author: wedrifid 18 November 2010 09:08:07AM 1 point [-]

Yes there is. Humans are sapient.

I almost commented on that the first time. It struck me as a red herring. Sapience is not even a universal feature of humanity. There are animals that I have known who are 'possessing of more wisdom and discernment' than the least among the humans I have known. Sapience is not the greatest distinguishing feature of humanity and I seriously doubt that you value humans in proportion to their degree of 'sapience' in practice.

BTW, what do you find so magical about maintaining a whole species?

I like wolves. I like novelty. No other reason is needed.

Comment author: Carinthium 18 November 2010 11:02:14AM 2 points [-]

Out of curiousity, could you give some examples and (ideally highly detailed) evidence? I'm curious to know, particularly how you managed to measure it.

Comment author: shokwave 18 November 2010 09:12:47AM 1 point [-]

Having been a human seems to be a strong argument in favour of unfairly privileging them over other species, even endangered.