For one, the idea of basing morality on “racial survival” terrifies me
Eh heh heh. So you can be terrified by some kinds of utilitarian reasoning. Well, this one does terrify me too, but in the context of this conversation I’m tempted to cite my people’s saying: “What’s fine for a Russian would kill a German.”
It feels pretty complex, and I just self-report as undecided on some preferences, but, although a part of my function seems to be optimizing for LW-”fun” too, another, smaller part is a preference for “Niceness with a capital N”, or “the world feeling wholesome”.
I’m not good enough at introspection and self-expression to describe this value of “Niceness”, but it seems to resonate with some Christian ideals and images (“love your enemies”), the complex, indirect ethical teachings seen in classical literature (e.g. Akutagawa or Dostoevsky; I love and admire both), and even, on an aesthetic level, the modern otaku culture’s concept of “moe” (see this great analysis on how that last one, although looking like a mere pop culture craze to outsiders, can tie in into a larger sensibility).
So, there’s an ever-present “minority group” in my largely LW-normal values cluster. I can’t quite label it with something like “conservative” or “romantic”, but I recognize it when I feel it.
...shit, I feel like some kind of ethical hipster now, lol.
Tl;dr: there might be some kind of “Niceness” (permitting “fun” that’s not directly fun) a level or so above “fun” for me, just as there is some kind of “fun” above pleasure for most people (permitting “pleasure” that’s not directly pleasant). If people don’t wirehead so they can have “fun” and not just pleasure, I’m totally able not to optimize for “fun” so I can have “Niceness” and not just “fun”.
Eh heh heh. So you can be terrified by some kinds of utilitarian reasoning. Well, this one does terrify me too, but in the context of this conversation I’m tempted to cite my people’s saying: “What’s fine for a Russian would kill a German.”
It feels pretty complex, and I just self-report as undecided on some preferences, but, although a part of my function seems to be optimizing for LW-”fun” too, another, smaller part is a preference for “Niceness with a capital N”, or “the world feeling wholesome”.
I’m not good enough at introspection and self-expression to describe this value of “Niceness”, but it seems to resonate with some Christian ideals and images (“love your enemies”), the complex, indirect ethical teachings seen in classical literature (e.g. Akutagawa or Dostoevsky; I love and admire both), and even, on an aesthetic level, the modern otaku culture’s concept of “moe” (see this great analysis on how that last one, although looking like a mere pop culture craze to outsiders, can tie in into a larger sensibility).
So, there’s an ever-present “minority group” in my largely LW-normal values cluster. I can’t quite label it with something like “conservative” or “romantic”, but I recognize it when I feel it.
...shit, I feel like some kind of ethical hipster now, lol.
Tl;dr: there might be some kind of “Niceness” (permitting “fun” that’s not directly fun) a level or so above “fun” for me, just as there is some kind of “fun” above pleasure for most people (permitting “pleasure” that’s not directly pleasant). If people don’t wirehead so they can have “fun” and not just pleasure, I’m totally able not to optimize for “fun” so I can have “Niceness” and not just “fun”.