I wouldn’t be indifferent. If I had to choose between being wireheaded and being antiwireheaded, I would choose the former. I don’t simply assign utility = 0 to simple pleasure or pain. I just don’t think that wireheading is the most fun we could be having. If you asked someone on their deathbed what the best experiences of their life were, they probably wouldn’t talk about sex or heroin (yes, this might be an ineffectual status grab or selectively committing only certain types of fun to memory, but I doubt it).
This seems like a good example of logical rudeness to me. Your original comment was premised on an equivalence (which you explicitly spelled out later) between being wireheaded and being a large integer. I pointed out that accepting this premise would lead to indifference between wireheading and anti-wireheading. That was obviously meant to be a reductio ad absurdum. But you ignored the reductio and switched to talking about why wireheading is not the most fun we could be having.
To be clear, I don’t think wireheading is necessarily the most fun we could be having. I just think we don’t know enough about the nature of pleasure, fun, and/or preference to decide that right now.
You know, you’re right. That was a bit of a non sequitur.
Back to the original point, I think I’m starting to chang my mind about the equivalence between a wirehead and a number (insert disclaimer about how everything is a number): after all, I’d feel worse about killing one than tilting an abacus.
Maybe “But I don’t want to spend a lot of time doing something so simple” would work for version 3.0
If you were to ask me now what the best experiences of my life were, some of the sex I’ve had would definitely be up there, and I’ve had quite a variety of pleasurable experiences.
I wouldn’t be indifferent. If I had to choose between being wireheaded and being antiwireheaded, I would choose the former. I don’t simply assign utility = 0 to simple pleasure or pain. I just don’t think that wireheading is the most fun we could be having. If you asked someone on their deathbed what the best experiences of their life were, they probably wouldn’t talk about sex or heroin (yes, this might be an ineffectual status grab or selectively committing only certain types of fun to memory, but I doubt it).
This seems like a good example of logical rudeness to me. Your original comment was premised on an equivalence (which you explicitly spelled out later) between being wireheaded and being a large integer. I pointed out that accepting this premise would lead to indifference between wireheading and anti-wireheading. That was obviously meant to be a reductio ad absurdum. But you ignored the reductio and switched to talking about why wireheading is not the most fun we could be having.
To be clear, I don’t think wireheading is necessarily the most fun we could be having. I just think we don’t know enough about the nature of pleasure, fun, and/or preference to decide that right now.
You know, you’re right. That was a bit of a non sequitur.
Back to the original point, I think I’m starting to chang my mind about the equivalence between a wirehead and a number (insert disclaimer about how everything is a number): after all, I’d feel worse about killing one than tilting an abacus.
Maybe “But I don’t want to spend a lot of time doing something so simple” would work for version 3.0
If you were to ask me now what the best experiences of my life were, some of the sex I’ve had would definitely be up there, and I’ve had quite a variety of pleasurable experiences.