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jsteinhardt comments on Call for Anonymous Narratives by LW Women and Question Proposals (AMA) - Less Wrong Discussion

20 [deleted] 09 September 2012 08:39AM

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Comment author: jsteinhardt 10 September 2012 05:34:34AM 4 points [-]

Except that most people have a deontological objection to actually killing people, so even if lucidian didn't think we should be killing people, it wouldn't necessarily imply contradictory beliefs (or rather, the contradiction comes from contradictions in deontology, not anything related to cryonics).

Comment author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 11 September 2012 06:53:47AM 8 points [-]

It is fair to observe that when somebody claims that their utility function says one thing but their deontology prevents them from following up, that is at least suspicious for one or the other being not-fully-motivating, not-fully-thought-out, etc.

Comment author: jsteinhardt 11 September 2012 07:01:00AM 3 points [-]

I agree, but deontology is well-known to be a problematic but widely-held philosophy, which should explain away the observed inconsistency (e.g. desires could be consistent but deontology prevents the desires from being acted upon). I think that the proposed alternate test of asking about slowing down longevity research should reveal whether there is a further inconsistency within the desires themselves.

Comment author: [deleted] 11 September 2012 01:52:24PM 1 point [-]

(e.g. desires could be consistent but deontology prevents the desires from being acted upon)

The question is why the deontological concerns are motivating. If they are motivating though a desire to fulfill deontological concern, then they belong in the utility function. And if not through desire, then how? An endorsed deontological principle might say 'X!' or 'Don't X', but why obey it? Deontological principles aren't obviously intrinsically motivating (in the way anything desired is).

Comment author: Nick_Tarleton 11 September 2012 04:41:30PM *  4 points [-]

Following deontological concerns can be instrumentally useful for biased finite agents: http://wiki.lesswrong.com/wiki/Ethical_injunction