Nick_Tarleton comments on Open Thread: February 2010, part 2

Nick_Tarleton 16 Feb 2010 18:58 UTC
4 points
I have no idea if this is a serious question, but....

Just a general comment about this site: it seems to be biased in favor of human values at the expense of values held by other sentient beings. It’s all about “how can we make sure an FAI shares our [i.e. human] values?” How do you know human values are better?

“Better”? See Invisible Frameworks.

Or from the other direction: if you say, “because I’m human”, then why don’t you talk about doing things to favor e.g. “white people’s values”?

We don’t say that. See No License To Be Human.
- Sniffnoy 16 Feb 2010 19:04 UTC
  2 points
  Parent
  
  I have no idea if this is a serious question, but....
  
  Take a look at who’s posting it. The writer may well consider it a serious question, but I don’t think that has much to do with the character’s reason for asking it.
  - Nick_Tarleton 16 Feb 2010 19:51 UTC
    2 points
    Parent
    
    Take a look at who’s posting it.
    
    Er, yes, that’s exactly why I wasn’t sure.
    - Sniffnoy 16 Feb 2010 23:16 UTC
      0 points
      Parent
      I’m confused, then; are you trying to argue with the author or the character?
      - Vladimir_Nesov 17 Feb 2010 1:16 UTC
        3 points
        Parent
        If the character isn’t deliberately made confused (as opposed to paperclip-preferring, for example), resolving character’s confusion presumably helps the author as well, and of course the like-confused onlookers.