XiXiDu 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: 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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