blacktrance comments on Mahatma Armstrong: CEVed to death. - Less Wrong

23 Post author: Stuart_Armstrong 06 June 2013 12:50PM

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Comment author: blacktrance 07 June 2013 01:38:21AM *  0 points [-]

In this context, what does "more altruistic" (as in 1) mean? Does it mean that you want to change your beliefs about what is right to do, or that given your current beliefs, you want to give more to charity (but, for whatever reason, find it difficult to do so)? If it's the former, it seems contradictory - it's saying "it's right for me to be more altruistic than I currently am, but I don't believe it". If it's the latter, the transition between 1 and 2 wouldn't happen, because your belief about the optimum level of altruism either wouldn't change (if you are currently correct about what the optimal amount of altruism is for you) or it would change in a way that would be appropriate based on new information (maybe giving more to charity is easier once you get started). I can see your estimation of your optimum level of altruism changing based on new information, but I don't see how it would lead to a transition such as that between 1 and 2. Even if charity is very easy and very enjoyable, it doesn't follow that you should value all humans equally.