SoullessAutomaton comments on Survey Results - Less Wrong

48 Post author: Yvain 12 May 2009 10:09PM

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Comment author: SoullessAutomaton 14 May 2009 01:05:29AM *  0 points [-]

Combinatorial explosion, for starters. There's a very large set of potential entities that may or may not exist, and most won't. Assigning value to these entities seems likely to lead to absurdity. If nothing else, it seems to quickly lead to some manner of obligation to see as many entities created as possible.

Comment author: MichaelBishop 14 May 2009 03:35:28AM 0 points [-]

But not assigning value to potential entities implies that we should make a lot of changes. Ignoring global warming for one. Perhaps enslaving future generations?

Comment author: SoullessAutomaton 14 May 2009 10:37:24AM 0 points [-]

I think it's arguable that global warming could impact plenty of people already alive today, and I'm not sure what you mean by enslaving future generations.

But yes, assigning no value at all to potential entities may also be problematic, but I'm not sure what a reasonable balance is.