Vaniver comments on By Which It May Be Judged - LessWrong

35 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 10 December 2012 04:26AM

You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.

Comments (934)

You are viewing a single comment's thread. Show more comments above.

Comment author: Vaniver 10 December 2012 09:35:21PM 1 point [-]

But morality isn't just moral intuitions. It includes "eat fish on friday"

Sure. We should expect such rules to be followed to the degree that they are prudent.

What't the reward for self sacrifice?

There are several; kin selection, reciprocal altruism, and so on. In some cases, self-sacrifice is the result of a parasitic relationship. (Kin selection appears to have a memetic analog as well, but I'm not familiar with work that develops that concept rigorously, and distinguishes it from normal alliance behaviors; it might just be a subset of that.)

Comment author: Peterdjones 10 December 2012 09:54:59PM 1 point [-]

Sure. We should expect such rules to be followed to the degree that they are prudent.

Again, I have no idea what you mean. Morality does not predict self-centered prudence, since it enjoins self-sacrifice, and evolution doenst predict self-centered prudence in all cases. It is not selfishly prudent for bees to to defend their colony, or for male praying mantises to mate.

There are several; kin selection, reciprocal altruism, and so on.

Rewards for whom?

Comment author: Strange7 14 December 2012 03:16:20AM 1 point [-]

If you pass on the idea that self-sacrifice is virtuous, in a persuasive sort of way (such as by believing it yourself), you're marginally more likely to enjoy the benefits of having someone willing to sacrifice their own interests nearby when you particularly need such a person. Of course, sometimes that meme kills you. Some people are born with sickle-cell anemia and never get the opportunity to benefit from malaria resistance; evolution doesn't play nice.