It’s hard for me to figure out what the question means.
I feel sad when I think that the universe is bound to wind down into nothingness, forever. (Tho, as someone pointed out, this future infinity of nothingness is no worse than the past infinity of nothingness, which for some reason doesn’t bother me as much.) Is this morality?
When I watch a movie, I hope that the good guys win. Is that morality? Would I be unable to enjoy anything other than “My Dinner with Andre” after incorporating the proof that there was no morality? Does having empathic responses to the adventures of distant or imaginary people require morality?
(There are movies and videogames I can’t enjoy, that other people do, where the “good guys” are bad guys. I can’t enjoy slasher flicks. I can’t laugh when an old person falls down the stairs. Maybe people who do have no morals.)
If I do something that doesn’t benefit me personally, but might benefit my genes or memes, or a reasonable heuristic would estimate might benefit them, or my genes might have programmed me to do because it gave them an advantage, is it not a moral action?
I worry that, when AIs take over, they might not have an appreciation for art. Is that morality?
I think that Beethoven wrote much better music than John Cage; and anyone who disagrees doesn’t have a different perspective, they’re just stupid. Is that morality?
I think little kids are cute. Sometimes that causes me to be nice to them. Is that morality?
These examples illustrate at least 3 problems:
1. Disinguishing moral behavior from evolved behavior would require distinguishing free-willed behavior from deterministic behavior.
2. It’s hard to distinguish morality from empathy.
3. It’s hard to distinguish morality from aesthetics.
I think there are people who have no sense of aesthetics and no sense of empathy, so the concept has some meaning. But their lack of morality is a function of them, not of the world.
You are posing a question that might only make sense to someone who believes that “morality” is a set of behaviors defined by God.
Nick:
I don’t need to justify that I enjoy pie or dislike country music any more than I need to justify disliking murder and enjoying sex.
If you enjoyed murder, you would need to justify that more than disliking country music. These things are very different.
It’s hard for me to figure out what the question means.
I feel sad when I think that the universe is bound to wind down into nothingness, forever. (Tho, as someone pointed out, this future infinity of nothingness is no worse than the past infinity of nothingness, which for some reason doesn’t bother me as much.) Is this morality?
When I watch a movie, I hope that the good guys win. Is that morality? Would I be unable to enjoy anything other than “My Dinner with Andre” after incorporating the proof that there was no morality? Does having empathic responses to the adventures of distant or imaginary people require morality?
(There are movies and videogames I can’t enjoy, that other people do, where the “good guys” are bad guys. I can’t enjoy slasher flicks. I can’t laugh when an old person falls down the stairs. Maybe people who do have no morals.)
If I do something that doesn’t benefit me personally, but might benefit my genes or memes, or a reasonable heuristic would estimate might benefit them, or my genes might have programmed me to do because it gave them an advantage, is it not a moral action?
I worry that, when AIs take over, they might not have an appreciation for art. Is that morality?
I think that Beethoven wrote much better music than John Cage; and anyone who disagrees doesn’t have a different perspective, they’re just stupid. Is that morality?
I think little kids are cute. Sometimes that causes me to be nice to them. Is that morality?
These examples illustrate at least 3 problems:
1. Disinguishing moral behavior from evolved behavior would require distinguishing free-willed behavior from deterministic behavior.
2. It’s hard to distinguish morality from empathy.
3. It’s hard to distinguish morality from aesthetics.
I think there are people who have no sense of aesthetics and no sense of empathy, so the concept has some meaning. But their lack of morality is a function of them, not of the world.
You are posing a question that might only make sense to someone who believes that “morality” is a set of behaviors defined by God.
Nick:
If you enjoyed murder, you would need to justify that more than disliking country music. These things are very different.