manuelg comments on Fake Utility Functions - Less Wrong

22 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 06 December 2007 04:55PM

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Comment author: manuelg 06 December 2007 08:49:58PM 2 points [-]

> You shouldn't expect to be able to compress a human morality down to a simple utility function, any more than you should expect to compress a large computer file down to 10 bits.

I think it is a helpful exercise, in trying to live "The Examined Life", to attempt to compress a personal morality down to the fewest number of explicitly stated values.

Then, pay special attention to exactly where the "compressed morality" is deficient in describing the actual personal morality.

I find, often but not always, that it is my personal morality that would benefit from modification, to make it more like the "compressed morality".