timtyler comments on What is Eliezer Yudkowsky's meta-ethical theory? - Less Wrong

33 Post author: lukeprog 29 January 2011 07:58PM

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Comment author: timtyler 30 January 2011 06:34:03PM *  0 points [-]

The main reason for why I was able to abandon religion was to realize that what I want implies what is right. That still feels intuitively right. I didn't expect to see many people on LW to argue that there exist preference/(agent/mind)-independent moral statements like 'it is right to help people' or 'killing is generally wrong'.

It is useful to think of right and wrong as being some agent's preferences. That agent doesn't have to be you - or even to exist IRL. If you are a sadist (no slur intended) you might want to inflict pain - but that would not make it "right" - in the eyes of conventional society.

It is fairly common to use "right" and "wrong" to describe society-level preferences.

Comment author: XiXiDu 30 January 2011 06:53:51PM 0 points [-]

If you are a sadist (no slur intended) you might want to inflict pain - but that would not make it "right" - in the eyes of conventional society.

Why would a sadistic Boltzmann brain conclude that it is wrong to be a sadistic Boltzmann brain? Whatever some society thinks is completely irrelevant to an agent with outlier preferences.

Comment author: timtyler 30 January 2011 08:12:07PM *  0 points [-]

Morality serves several functions:

  • It is a guide relating to what to do;
  • It is a guide relating to what behaviour to punish;
  • It allows for the signalling of goodness and virtue;
  • It allows agents to manipulate others, by labelling them or their actions as bad;

The lower items on the list have some significance, IMO.

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