This is for anyone in the LessWrong community who has made at least some effort to read the sequences and follow along, but is still confused on some point, and is perhaps feeling a bit embarrassed. Here, newbies and not-so-newbies are free to ask very basic but still relevant questions with the understanding that the answers are probably somewhere in the sequences. Similarly, LessWrong tends to presume a rather high threshold for understanding science and technology. Relevant questions in those areas are welcome as well. Anyone who chooses to respond should respectfully guide the questioner to a helpful resource, and questioners should be appropriately grateful. Good faith should be presumed on both sides, unless and until it is shown to be absent. If a questioner is not sure whether a question is relevant, ask it, and also ask if it's relevant.
Meta:
How often should these be made? I think one every three months is the correct frequency.
Costanza made the original thread, but I am OpenThreadGuy. I am therefore not only entitled but required to post this in his stead. But I got his permission anyway.
The value of a world-state is determined by the amount of value for the individuals in it
The function that determines the value of a world state is monotonic in its arguments (we often, but not always, require linearity as well)
The function that determines the value of a world state does not depend on the order of its arguments (a world where you are happy and I am sad is the same as one where I am happy and you are sad)
The rightness of actions is determined wholey by the value of their (expected) consequences.
and then either
An action is right iff no other action has better (expected) consequences
or
An action is right in proportion to to the goodness of its consequences
From Costanza's original thread (entire text):
Meta: