somervta comments on Normal Ending: Last Tears (6/8) - Less Wrong

26 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 04 February 2009 08:45AM

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Comment author: somervta 22 April 2014 05:39:44AM 2 points [-]

that's worse than letting billions of children be tortured to death every year. that's worse than dying from a supernova.

No? The story explicitly rejects this. It is only because the Superhappies can deal with the Babyeaters on their own, and that solutions to the human problem do not prevent this that the story is resolved other ways.

that's worse than dying from mass suicide.

I don't see the story as advocating this - Akon does not suicide, for example. It is not that the value difference between human life before and after the change is so large (large than the negative value of death) that is the problem. It is that difference in value, multiplied by the entire human race and it's future potential/member is so large as to outweigh a comparatively tiny number of deaths. I'm not sure that is true, but it is the position of those in the story.

you really think existence without pain is that bad? you really they are not "true humans".

I don't think he thinks that. I think he (Eliezer_2009) thinks they have lost something important, some aspect of their humanity - but that doesn't mean they are completely inhuman.