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MugaSofer comments on Interview with Singularity Institute Research Fellow Luke Muehlhauser - Less Wrong Discussion

12 Post author: MichaelAnissimov 15 September 2011 10:23AM

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Comment author: MugaSofer 10 November 2012 07:01:35PM *  -1 points [-]

how exactly would you distinguish the universe in which we live in from the universe in which human moral change was determined by something like a random walk through value space?

If historical civilizations agree with us about as much as contemporary ones. That said, there has no more been a constant upward slope than there has been such a slope in technology of equality, we are just unusual due to the enlightenment, I think.

EDIT: I think you may be assuming that we perfectly understand what we want. If I persuade a racist all humans are people, have I changed his utility function?

Comment author: [deleted] 10 November 2012 07:12:52PM 4 points [-]

Do you to the first approximation equate moral progress with more equality?

Comment author: MugaSofer 10 November 2012 07:35:05PM *  -1 points [-]

I would consider it one form of such progress, yes.

EDIT:

If I persuade a racist all humans are people, have I changed his utility function?

That was a genuine question, incidentally. I really want to know your answer.

Comment author: Eugine_Nier 10 November 2012 09:17:58PM 2 points [-]

If I persuade a racist all humans are people, have I changed his utility function?

Can you taboo what you mean by a person's utility function?

Comment author: MugaSofer 10 November 2012 09:30:04PM -1 points [-]

How they decide the relative desirability of a given situation.

Comment author: Eugine_Nier 10 November 2012 09:46:08PM 4 points [-]

Said procedure tends not to resemble a utility function.

Comment author: MugaSofer 10 November 2012 09:59:02PM -1 points [-]

Huh?

He gets disutility from people suffering. If Jews are people, then he shouldn't torture them to death - but he didn't suddenly decide to value Jews, just realised they are people.