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thelittledoctor comments on The ethics of breaking belief - Less Wrong Discussion

16 Post author: thelittledoctor 08 May 2012 08:34PM

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Comment author: Nisan 08 May 2012 09:41:07PM 10 points [-]

Some ethically relevant questions you could ask yourself:

  • If you deconvert your friend, do you predict they'll thank you for it afterward or express regret at losing their faith?

  • Would you approve of your more adept friends pushing analogous levers in your own head? (For example, I welcome people to cause me to doubt my preconceptions, but I don't want people to use my fears to manipulate me.)

Comment author: thelittledoctor 08 May 2012 11:37:56PM 0 points [-]

The first question is a difficult one to answer - more specifically, a very difficult one to get a theist to answer genuinely rather than just as signalling.

I would approve of more-adept friends pushing analogous levers in my own head (emphasis 'friends' - I want them to be well-intentioned), but I am weird enough to make me wary of generalizing based on my own preferences.