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wedrifid comments on Scientific Self-Help: The State of Our Knowledge - Less Wrong
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I'm sorry, are you saying that the claim that deliberately presenting false evidence in order to introduce noise into a signal, with the expectation that this will raise the chance of a substandard choice (of benefit to you) being made, is not immoral to some extent?
If you're claiming that humans don't value the truth, I would like to see some damn evidence; if you're claiming that false signalling is somehow less deceptive than verbal false signalling (lying) then I would love to see an actual argument in favor of that; and if you're just attacking me for making moral prescriptions then ... what the hell, seriously.
On the other hand, if you're pointing out that many "signals" are only such from an evolutionary perspective, and humans just like eg like big breasts without knowing why.
I claim that whatever morally deprecated class the action "put your own face as your profile picture instead of anime because you know it makes you look more sociable" is declared to fall in is a class that contains actions I endorse wholeheartedly. So if the profile changing is 'murder', 'rape' and 'pedophilia' then I endorse 'murder', 'rape' and 'pedophilia' (in at least one context).
Putting something that is not representative into a class of Bad Things doesn't make the added item Bad, it merely weakens the meaning of the abused word.
OK, since you apparently didn't understand my question, let me put it another way:
Are you saying lying is not wrong, or that there is some relevant distinction between "lying" and false signals generally? The facebook profile is an extreme example, an extremely minor deception - but if you're claiming that it isn't a deception, then please provide a better defenition.
If, on the other hand, you are defending lies, then please bear in mind that I am well aware that acts which are Bad may have their Badness outweighed by consequences that are instrumentally Good - for example, killing someone by diverting a train is Bad, but saving ten people by diverting a train is Good, and the Goodness outweighs the Badness.