jtk3 comments on Offense versus harm minimization - Less Wrong
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How about the classic "murder pill" test? If you could self-modify to no longer experience the psychic stress, would you?
I suspect the psychic-distress-via-salmon and rape victims would answer yes, whereas the Muslims would answer no.
Yes, I think it's a crucial distinction that the brits in question would almost all choose to have the electrodes removed immediately. And shortly they would take considerably less offense at pictures of salmon.
Far fewer of the offended muslims (it's not the case that all muslims are equally offended) would immediately choose to rewire their brains or rewrite their software to avoid the psychic pain. This is because their current configuration was chosen, to a far greater extent than the brit's was.