David Cooper

Computational Morality (Part 4) - Consequentialism

I suggested in part 3 that all the best proposals may be converging in on the same destination, and that we might be able to use my method of calculating morality to help with the process of unification of the best ones (and rejection of the hopeless ones). So, in the absence of a league table of the best proposals, we'll just have to examine them as they turn up and hope that we encounter all the ones that matter. In the comments under Part 1, a link was provided to a page which provides a good starting point, and I'm going to use it to show where people have been making fundamental errors which have driven them in ill-advised directions: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/consequentialism/ - it may be worth keeping it open in another tab as you read this. What do we see on that page? Well, let's start at section 3. In the second paragraph we see an objection to the idea of an unsophisticated game being regarded as being as good as highly intellectual poetry. Now, such poetry is outside of my experience, but we can substitute a play by Shakespeare, such as King Lear, while the unsophisticated game can be darts. A common man who likes spending time in the pub might well turn down an invitation to go to see this Shakespeare play in favour of a few games of darts with his friend, while a more sophisticated individual might scoff at that and head for the theatre. If both derive exactly the same amount of pleasure from their chosen activity (which includes all the intellectual satisfaction of the appreciation of the high quality content of the play, and the intellectual satisfaction of the calculating the score for the darts player), who's to say that the Shakespeare play is really the superior option? Another intellectual with no tolerance for cheap manipulation may rate the Shakespeare play very differently from the average intellectual, finding the play deeply unsatisfying because of the extreme artificiality where two of the daughters express no love at all for any

-1Apr 26, 2018

Computational Morality (Part 3) - Similarity of Proposals

-2Apr 24, 2018

Computational Morality (Part 2) - on the Need for a Dynamic League Table of Proposed Solutions

-2Apr 22, 2018

Mere Addition Paradox Resolved

-3Apr 27, 2018

David Cooper

Message

Independent AGI system builder. I came here as part of my search to find out what other NGI systems are doing to provide moral control of their AGI systems, but this is clearly not the right place for that. I will continue my search for

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-83

Mere Addition Paradox Resolved

Diagram: See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mere_addition_paradox for the diagram, though in case the key parts of it are edited into a different form in the future, I'll provide a description here (adding appropriate numbers of my own invention, chosen to reflect the height of the bars in the diagram) Description of diagram: Population...

Apr 27, 2018-3

Computational Morality (Part 4) - Consequentialism

Apr 26, 2018-1

Computational Morality (Part 3) - Similarity of Proposals

In part 1 ( https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/Lug4n6RyG7nJSH2k9/computational-morality ) I set out a proposal for a system of machine ethics to govern the behaviour of AGI (in which you simply imagine that you are all the people and other sentiences involved in any situation and seek to minimise harm to yourself on that...

Apr 24, 2018-2

Computational Morality (Part 2) - on the Need for a Dynamic League Table of Proposed Solutions

AGI will, over the course of the next few years, be put to work at national intelligence agencies and in military devices. Some countries will be more careful than others in ensuring that their AGI is safe and moral, but they all need all the help they can get in...

Apr 22, 2018-2

Sentience

Consciousness is primarily sentience. There may be parts of it that aren't, but I haven't managed to pin any down - consciousness all seems to be about feelings, some of them being pleasant or unpleasant, but others like colour qualia are neutral, as is the feeling of being conscious. There...

Apr 18, 2018-7

Origin of Morality

By origin, I'm referring to the source of the need for morality, and it's clear that it's mostly about suffering. We don't like suffering and would rather not experience it, although we are prepared to put up with some (or even a lot) of it if that suffering leads to...

Apr 18, 2018-5

Computational Morality (Part 1) - a Proposed Solution

Religions have had the Golden Rule for thousands of years, and while it's faulty (it gives you permission to do something to someone else that you like having done to you but they don't like having done to them), it works so well overall that it clearly must be based...

Apr 17, 2018-5

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David Cooper

David Cooper

David Cooper

Computational Morality (Part 4) - Consequentialism

Computational Morality (Part 3) - Similarity of Proposals

Computational Morality (Part 2) - on the Need for a Dynamic League Table of Proposed Solutions

Mere Addition Paradox Resolved

David Cooper

Mere Addition Paradox Resolved

Computational Morality (Part 4) - Consequentialism

Computational Morality (Part 3) - Similarity of Proposals

Computational Morality (Part 2) - on the Need for a Dynamic League Table of Proposed Solutions

Sentience

Origin of Morality

Computational Morality (Part 1) - a Proposed Solution

Computational Morality (Part 4) - Consequentialism

Computational Morality (Part 3) - Similarity of Proposals

Computational Morality (Part 2) - on the Need for a Dynamic League Table of Proposed Solutions

Mere Addition Paradox Resolved

Mere Addition Paradox Resolved

Computational Morality (Part 4) - Consequentialism

Computational Morality (Part 3) - Similarity of Proposals

Computational Morality (Part 2) - on the Need for a Dynamic League Table of Proposed Solutions

Sentience

Origin of Morality

Computational Morality (Part 1) - a Proposed Solution