I found myself saying recently, “While this strategy does not in this case seem to have much causal connection to good outcomes, I feel like following the strategy in the past few months has been good for my soul.”*
Humans don’t have souls. I could imagine substituting, “This strategy has made me an easier agent to coordinate with and has moved me closer to the morality I was taught growing up, which has reduced my cognitive dissonance with my formerly more consequentialist actions. And it’s an important part of the strategy that I don’t alter it just because I can’t see any negative consequences here.”
I dunno, maybe that’s the right way to say the thing? I think if I’d thought of that phrasing at the time maybe I should have just said that. It seems tempting to go with the shorter “good for my soul” phrasing, but I think it’s likely to be pretty ambiguous in interpretation. I think after writing this rather stream-of-consciousness shortform that I’d rather stick to awkward but clear language instead of turning poetic.
* (A note in defense of my past self — While recently I’ve moved further in non-consequentialist directions, I’ve never been willing to defect when in coordination games with cooperating members of my communities.)
I think humans have souls. It just so happens that they aren’t immortal by default.
I wouldn’t want to make your substitution, for the same reason why Taleb doesn’t like the substitution of artificial formula for a mother’s milk: the substitution implies an assumption that you’ve correctly understood everything important about the thing you’re replacing.
I bet there is more to a soul than what your long sentence gets at, and I don’t want to cut out that “more” prematurely.
I think you’re gonna need to define soul here. Not in a way that implies you’ve understood everything, but in the way that you might describe fire as the red hot stuff.
Just wanted to add that “made me an easier agent to coordinate with” applies not only to coordination with other people, but also to coordination with your past/future selves. That is, what is “good for your soul” is good even when other people are not involved.
It may even be the more important aspect, because if you can’t trust your future selves, how could other people? (Your deals with other people implicitly involve deals with your future selves.)
I found myself saying recently, “While this strategy does not in this case seem to have much causal connection to good outcomes, I feel like following the strategy in the past few months has been good for my soul.”*
Humans don’t have souls. I could imagine substituting, “This strategy has made me an easier agent to coordinate with and has moved me closer to the morality I was taught growing up, which has reduced my cognitive dissonance with my formerly more consequentialist actions. And it’s an important part of the strategy that I don’t alter it just because I can’t see any negative consequences here.”
I dunno, maybe that’s the right way to say the thing? I think if I’d thought of that phrasing at the time maybe I should have just said that. It seems tempting to go with the shorter “good for my soul” phrasing, but I think it’s likely to be pretty ambiguous in interpretation. I think after writing this rather stream-of-consciousness shortform that I’d rather stick to awkward but clear language instead of turning poetic.
* (A note in defense of my past self — While recently I’ve moved further in non-consequentialist directions, I’ve never been willing to defect when in coordination games with cooperating members of my communities.)
I think humans have souls. It just so happens that they aren’t immortal by default.
I wouldn’t want to make your substitution, for the same reason why Taleb doesn’t like the substitution of artificial formula for a mother’s milk: the substitution implies an assumption that you’ve correctly understood everything important about the thing you’re replacing.
I bet there is more to a soul than what your long sentence gets at, and I don’t want to cut out that “more” prematurely.
I think you’re gonna need to define soul here. Not in a way that implies you’ve understood everything, but in the way that you might describe fire as the red hot stuff.
I think I might say “the deepest-rooted part of yourself”? Certainly hand wavy.
The soul is the metaphorical red hot stuff :D.
Just wanted to add that “made me an easier agent to coordinate with” applies not only to coordination with other people, but also to coordination with your past/future selves. That is, what is “good for your soul” is good even when other people are not involved.
It may even be the more important aspect, because if you can’t trust your future selves, how could other people? (Your deals with other people implicitly involve deals with your future selves.)