Swimmer963 comments on Checklist of Rationality Habits - Less Wrong

117 Post author: AnnaSalamon 07 November 2012 09:19PM

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Comment author: Swimmer963 25 November 2012 07:29:06AM 0 points [-]

Why not just specify to people that motivations or obligations are "subjective and rooted in individual values"? Then you don't have to bring in the word "selfish", with all its common-usage connotations.

Comment author: chaosmosis 26 November 2012 07:59:40PM *  0 points [-]

I want those common-usage connotations brought in because I want to eradicate the taboo around those common-usage connotations, I guess. I think that people are vilified for being selfish in lots of situations where being selfish is a good thing, at least from that person's perspective. I don't think that people should ever get mad at defectors in Prisoner's Dilemmas, for example, and I think that saying that all of morality is selfish is a good way to fix this kind of problem.