Rationality Quotes January 2014

Mestroyer

Rules:

Please post all quotes separately, so that they can be upvoted or downvoted separately. (If they are strongly related, reply to your own comments. If strongly ordered, then go ahead and post them together.)
Do not quote yourself.
Do not quote from Less Wrong itself, HPMoR, Eliezer Yudkowsky, or Robin Hanson. If you'd like to revive an old quote from one of those sources, please do so here.
No more than 5 quotes per person per monthly thread, please.

Rules:

Please post all quotes separately, so that they can be upvoted or downvoted separately. (If they are strongly related, reply to your own comments. If strongly ordered, then go ahead and post them together.)
Do not quote yourself.
Do not quote from Less Wrong itself, HPMoR, Eliezer Yudkowsky, or Robin Hanson. If you'd like to revive an old quote from one of those sources, please do so here.
No more than 5 quotes per person per monthly thread, please.

People will call it immoral until they can afford it

-- blindcavefsh on reddit.com/r/futurology

I like this quote because it can serve as a replacement for "power corrupts" and also applies to things like embryo selection, so it seems to be pointing to something more general.

It's a good quote, but it's not a replacement for "power corrupts" because a shift from calling an action immoral to not calling that action immoral doesn't in itself equal corruption. "Power" / "being able to afford something" can be concomitant with "is now commonly available" / "newly invented technology", and such a gradual shift of society to accept the new status quo wouldn't typically be perceived as corruption.

Example: Someone who thinks of new anti-aging technologies (whose price points are gradual... (read more)

-1Eugine_Nier12y

That's false. People frequently call things they can afford immoral.

-3Lumifer12y

It's a good quote, but it's not a replacement for "power corrupts" because the end result of "power corrupts" is generally piles of corpses.

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Rationality Quotes January 2014

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Rationality Quotes January 2014

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