Zack_M_Davis comments on Polyhacking - Less Wrong

75 Post author: Alicorn 28 August 2011 08:35AM

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Comment author: Zack_M_Davis 29 August 2011 05:19:26AM 8 points [-]

producing that hypothesis pretends that a social misfeature [...] is somehow hardwired and thus blameless

You can't derive an ought from an is; the hypothesis that a trait is "hardwired" (that is, that there exists a biological predisposition towards that trait) does not imply that the trait is blameless. Failure to appreciate this point leads to confusion: in particular, we must be careful not to reject hypotheses that might be true, just because they are unpleasant or even horrifying to contemplate.

Comment author: JulianMorrison 29 August 2011 10:17:36PM 0 points [-]

Since our culture links misdeeds to volition, things not volitional are generally considered blameless. But I wasn't implying that the hypothesis is right, quite the opposite. I was implying that people are making untrue excuses by deflecting blame onto spurious made-up instincts.