Vladimir_Nesov comments on Waser's 3 Goals of Morality - Less Wrong

-12 Post author: mwaser 02 November 2010 07:12PM

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Comment author: Vladimir_Nesov 03 November 2010 08:58:59AM 4 points [-]

First and third paragraphs are attacks at the group, and the second is a rhetorical question (in the right direction). Please stick to object level. If you feel that your views are misrepresented, don't take offense: we try to make a more precise sense of what you say than your words let on, and can err in interpretation. The progress is made by moving forward, correcting the errors and arriving at common understanding. The progress is halted by taking offense, which leads to discouraging of further conversation even without outright stopping it.

If you consider a single top-level goal, then disclaimers about subgoals are unnecessary. Instead of saying "Don't overly optimize any given subgoal (at the expense of the other subgoals)", just say "Optimize the top-level goal". This is simpler and tells you what to do, as opposed to what not to do, with the latter suffering from all the problems of nonapples.

Comment author: mwaser 03 November 2010 08:34:25PM 3 points [-]

Now that I've got it, this is clear, concise, and helpful. Thank you.

I also owe you (personally) an apology for previous behavior.