Thanks Eliezer, I am surprised that you only have three motivations for seeking out truth in your conclusion. Moral duty, pragmatism and curiosity. Even though you talk about manipulating the world while talking about curiosity. I would separate curiosity, where the benefit is enjoyment at understanding, and power seeking, which allows shaping the world more efficiently. Certainly in the scientists I know, those motivations are often mixed. The search for exotic particles in physics is closer to curiosity and the “pleasure of finding things out”. The quest of seeking the truth in applied physics to build a nuclear bomb has more to do about power seeking.
Thanks Eliezer,
I am surprised that you only have three motivations for seeking out truth in your conclusion. Moral duty, pragmatism and curiosity. Even though you talk about manipulating the world while talking about curiosity.
I would separate curiosity, where the benefit is enjoyment at understanding, and power seeking, which allows shaping the world more efficiently.
Certainly in the scientists I know, those motivations are often mixed. The search for exotic particles in physics is closer to curiosity and the “pleasure of finding things out”.
The quest of seeking the truth in applied physics to build a nuclear bomb has more to do about power seeking.
Two very different motivations, no ?