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People around here use utilitarianism to mean a few different things.
I don't understand. One of those things is "compare the options, and choose the one with the best consequences". What are the other things?
"Compare the options, and choose the one that results in the greatest (pleasure - suffering)."
In response to
Open thread, September 8-14, 2014
If I understand correctly, people become utilitarians because they think that global suffering/well-being have such big values that all the other values don't really matter (this is what I see every time someone tries to argue for utilitarianism, (2) please correct me if I'm wrong). I think a lot of people don't share this view, and therefore, before trying to convince them they should choose utilitarianism as their morality, you first need to convince them about the value of harm-pleasure.
I think it depends? People around here use utilitarianism to mean a few different things. I imagine that's the version talked about the most because the people involved in EA tend to be those types (since it's easier to get extra value via hacking if your most important values are something very specific and somewhat measurable). I think that might also be the usual philosopher's definition. But then Eliezer (in the metaethics sequence) used "utilitarianism" to mean a general approach to ethics where you add up all the values involved and pick the best outcome, regardless of what your values are and how you weight them. So it's sometimes a little confusing to know what utilitarianism means around here.
(Edited for spelling.)
Soylent Orange is open source, we're keeping MealSquares proprietary for now.
it just seems to be a variant on Soylent
D:
It's my company (along with my cofounder, John Maxwell, who is also a user here.) It's easily twice as rational as Soylent.
I just saw your website, and it looks like a really neat idea. (I tried to make a whole foods soylent myself, and couldn't achieve a texture that didn't gross me out.) My body doesn't usually handle eggs well, but I'll probably join the crowdfund to try it anyway, since it'd be so convenient if it did work.
Do you have any plans to publish a recipe? (I imagine it would be possible to make substitutions, for people in situations like mine.) Kudos for avoiding so many of the common allergy foods (gluten/soy/corn/peanuts).
In response to
Meetup : Buffalo Meetup
Hey, I'm in Rochester, and, though it's hard to get to Buffalo, I'd really like to work on rationality skills with others. Do you have meetings in Buffalo often, and how should I stay in the loop about them?
I'm looking at starting a meetup in Rochester (or possibly on the RIT campus). Are you still interested in attending? If you are, I can give you a poke on this comment thread when I have something more specific posted.
In response to
Boring Advice Repository
Get a credit card with no annual fee (preferably one with 1% cash back). Pay absolutely everything with card (only rent/mortgage, loan payments, and utilities should be paid in a different way, and that's only because they don't accept credit card). Pay it off in full once every month (the same date every month, and only once a month) before the due date so you never give the credit card company anything more than the actual cost of what you bought.
This makes it incredibly easy to track your finances. Rent/mortgage and loan payments are fixed. If you make a steady monthly wage you know exactly how much money you are getting every month and exactly how much you have left for all non-loan expenditures. That number should be at least $100 more than you pay to the credit card to pay off your past month of living every month.
When you bank more than usual in a month you feel awesome. When you have to pay more than you made in a month you realize immediately and can take quick steps to curtail it.
This also gives you real-world data as to what living costs, helping you to avoid the planning fallacy.
socks/underwear
Find what is best for you, and buy a lot of them. Then you can ignore this topic for a long time.
If you buy more identical pairs of socks, if some of them get destroyed, you can make pairs of the remaining ones. On the other hand, if you buy similar pairs, you will waste a lot of time sorting them.
Mattress
...and a pillow (or two). Try different sizes and shapes.
Kitchen accessories
For example a cutting board should be large and easy to wash. An increased size can make cutting much easier.
For example a cutting board should be large and easy to wash. An increased size can make cutting much easier.
Depending on where you're using it. When my roommates leave the kitchen to cluttered to use, a small cutting board that fits on the desk in my bedroom is really nice to have. (Use case is usually eating cheese or carrots while doing homework - it doubles as a plate. I wouldn't want to chop meat that way.)
Not lying to myself in order to get myself to do things. Not pretending I can affect the past. Reminding myself that I want to believe what's true and that I want to do what's highest expected value. Doing the best with what I have, keeping my actual long-term goals in mind, listening to heavy metal music, and generally feeling like a badass.
In response to
Roles are Martial Arts for Agency
I really enjoyed this post. Useful topic, some new insight that suggests other insights (as Gunnar_Zarncke pointed out), good examples.
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I do not believe Eliezer makes that mistake.
I might have misremembered. Sorry about that.