Subsumed comments on Should a rationalist be concerned about habitat loss/biodiversity loss? - Less Wrong

6 Post author: InquilineKea 03 June 2011 12:25PM

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Comment author: Subsumed 03 June 2011 01:36:51PM 2 points [-]

A brain, rational or not, can produce the "terminal value" state (or output, or qualia?) when presented with the habitat or biodiversity concepts. This can be independent of their instrumental value, which, on average, probably diminishes with technological progress. But it's also easy to imagine cases where the instrumental value of nature increases as our ability to understand and manipulate it grows.