The old Star Trek’s Prime Directive is a good guideline: don’t mess with something you didn’t create and can’t calculate the effects on. In general, remember the guardrails: any drastic action is bad by default, even if you can’t prove how and it looks great to your boundedly rational brain. Utilitarianism together with decompartmentalization are guaranteed to lead you astray, and recognizing your own limitations is the most important lesson of rationality, and also the one we fail the most. Scott A’s recent review https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/book-review-what-we-owe-the-future (and many others before and after) is a good lesson in humbleness.
Basically, any time you have a bright idea to change the world for the better with some sweeping actions, the odds are exponential in “sweepiness” against the outcome being net positive.
The old Star Trek’s Prime Directive is a good guideline: don’t mess with something you didn’t create and can’t calculate the effects on. In general, remember the guardrails: any drastic action is bad by default, even if you can’t prove how and it looks great to your boundedly rational brain. Utilitarianism together with decompartmentalization are guaranteed to lead you astray, and recognizing your own limitations is the most important lesson of rationality, and also the one we fail the most. Scott A’s recent review https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/book-review-what-we-owe-the-future (and many others before and after) is a good lesson in humbleness.
Basically, any time you have a bright idea to change the world for the better with some sweeping actions, the odds are exponential in “sweepiness” against the outcome being net positive.