Imagine if aliens showed up at your doorstep and tried to explain to you that making as many paperclips as possible was the ultimate source of value in the universe. They show pictures of things that count as paperclips and things that don’t count as paperclips. They show you the long rambling definition of what counts as a paperclip from Section 23(b)(iii) of the Declaration of Paperclippian Values. They show you pages and pages of philosophers waxing poetical about how paperclips are great because of their incredible aesthetic value. You would be like, “yeah I get it, you consider this thing to be a paperclip, and you care a lot about them.” You could probably pretty accurately tell whether the aliens would approve of anything you’d want to do. And then you wouldn’t really care, because you value human flourishing, not paperclips. I mean, it’s so silly to care about paperclips, right?
Of course, to the aliens, who have not so subtly indicated that they would blow up the planet and look for a new, more paperclip-loving planet if they were to detect any anti-paperclip sentiments, you say that you of course totally understand and would do anything for paperclips, and that you definitely wouldn’t protest being sent to the paperclip mines.
I think I’d be confused. Do they care about more or better paperclips, or do they care about worship of paperclips by thinking beings? Why would they care whether I say I would do anything for paperclips, when I’m not actually making paperclips (or disassembling myself to become paperclips)?
I thought it would be obvious from context but the answers are “doesn’t really matter, any of those examples work” and “because they will send everyone to the paperclip mines after ensuring there are no rebellious sentiments”, respectively. I’ve edited it to be clearer.
Imagine if aliens showed up at your doorstep and tried to explain to you that making as many paperclips as possible was the ultimate source of value in the universe. They show pictures of things that count as paperclips and things that don’t count as paperclips. They show you the long rambling definition of what counts as a paperclip from Section 23(b)(iii) of the Declaration of Paperclippian Values. They show you pages and pages of philosophers waxing poetical about how paperclips are great because of their incredible aesthetic value. You would be like, “yeah I get it, you consider this thing to be a paperclip, and you care a lot about them.” You could probably pretty accurately tell whether the aliens would approve of anything you’d want to do. And then you wouldn’t really care, because you value human flourishing, not paperclips. I mean, it’s so silly to care about paperclips, right?
Of course, to the aliens, who have not so subtly indicated that they would blow up the planet and look for a new, more paperclip-loving planet if they were to detect any anti-paperclip sentiments, you say that you of course totally understand and would do anything for paperclips, and that you definitely wouldn’t protest being sent to the paperclip mines.
I think I’d be confused. Do they care about more or better paperclips, or do they care about worship of paperclips by thinking beings? Why would they care whether I say I would do anything for paperclips, when I’m not actually making paperclips (or disassembling myself to become paperclips)?
I thought it would be obvious from context but the answers are “doesn’t really matter, any of those examples work” and “because they will send everyone to the paperclip mines after ensuring there are no rebellious sentiments”, respectively. I’ve edited it to be clearer.