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JamesAndrix comments on Extenuating Circumstances - Less Wrong
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"When I consider doing less, I consider that this would make me a horrible awful unforgivable person. And then I cheerfully shake hands with others who aren't trying at all to save the world. "
You shouldn't be saving the world so that you don't feel horrible, you should be saving the world so that the world gets saved. Guilt at not saving the world is useless. (and I don't think guilt is actually why you're trying.)
Eliezer isn't (as I understand him) saying that he's trying to save the world so that he doesn't feel horrible. He's saying that, as it happens, he feels that if he didn't try to save the world then he would be horrible. This (1) isn't a statement about his motivations and (2) is about (hypothetically) being horrible, not about feeling horrible.
You are right, and I'm glad you replied because it sparked me to remember the OTHER thing I wanted to say, which I posted as a fresh comment.