It’s important to realize that the ideal value model depends on the situation you are in. A common mistake in both tech and life is to use a value model that made sense in a different product or society, but doesn’t make sense in this one. In essence, you have a value model that did well at solving the problems you used to have, but not at solving the problems you have right now.
Tensions: It seems unintuitively true that everything can described as good or bad (“I’m not impulsive, I’m spontaneous!”). However, if we favor vectors over rigid categories of good/bad, we are falling into the same problem. I believe the issue isn’t that we should change our value models to solve contemporary problems, it’s that there is an excess of solutions, each that would give something that we want. As such, there doesn’t seem to be any theory to help us prioritize one desire (or moral principle) over another.
Capitalism: A virtue (vice?) of capitalism is that it allows for the satisfaction of incompatible desires within a society, thus (theoretically) allowing for the maximum growth possible in that society. Neat!
Tensions: It seems unintuitively true that everything can described as good or bad (“I’m not impulsive, I’m spontaneous!”). However, if we favor vectors over rigid categories of good/bad, we are falling into the same problem. I believe the issue isn’t that we should change our value models to solve contemporary problems, it’s that there is an excess of solutions, each that would give something that we want. As such, there doesn’t seem to be any theory to help us prioritize one desire (or moral principle) over another.
Capitalism: A virtue (vice?) of capitalism is that it allows for the satisfaction of incompatible desires within a society, thus (theoretically) allowing for the maximum growth possible in that society. Neat!