Well, to start with I’d keep on doing the same thing. Just like I do if I discover that I really live in a timeless MWI platonia that is fundamentally different to what the world intuitively seems like.
But over time? Then the answer is less clear to me. Sometimes I learn things that firstly affect my world view in the abstract, then the way I personally relate to things, and finally my actions.
For example, evolution and the existence of carnivores. As I child I’d see something like a hawk tearing the wings off a little baby bird. I’d think that the hawk was very nasty and I’d want to intervene. But once I understood that this is what the hawk must do to survive, and indeed this process of weeding out the weak both keeps the sparrow population under control and helps improve their overall genetic fitness. Moreover, without trillions of similar brutal acts life would never have evolved at all. Well, with a certain level of discomfort, I can accept this baby bird getting violently killed.
Now, I’m not saying that after learning that all utility functions equal zero that I’d eventually totally change my behaviour. I don’t know. But I imagine that it could effect the way I think about the world in ways that might eventually affect my behaviour.
Well, to start with I’d keep on doing the same thing. Just like I do if I discover that I really live in a timeless MWI platonia that is fundamentally different to what the world intuitively seems like.
But over time? Then the answer is less clear to me. Sometimes I learn things that firstly affect my world view in the abstract, then the way I personally relate to things, and finally my actions.
For example, evolution and the existence of carnivores. As I child I’d see something like a hawk tearing the wings off a little baby bird. I’d think that the hawk was very nasty and I’d want to intervene. But once I understood that this is what the hawk must do to survive, and indeed this process of weeding out the weak both keeps the sparrow population under control and helps improve their overall genetic fitness. Moreover, without trillions of similar brutal acts life would never have evolved at all. Well, with a certain level of discomfort, I can accept this baby bird getting violently killed.
Now, I’m not saying that after learning that all utility functions equal zero that I’d eventually totally change my behaviour. I don’t know. But I imagine that it could effect the way I think about the world in ways that might eventually affect my behaviour.