.I cannot imagine myself without morality because that wouldn’t be me, but another brain.
Does your laptop care if the battery is running out? Yes, it will start beeping, because it is hardwired to do so. If you removed this hardwired beeping you have removed the laptop’s morality.
Morality is not a ghost in the machine, but it is defined by the machine itself.
Well put.
I’d stop being a vegetarian. Wait; I’m not a vegetarian. (Are there no vegetarians on OvBias?) But I’d stop feeling guilty about it.
I’d stop doing volunteer work and donating money to charities. Wait; I stopped doing that a few years ago. But I’d stop having to rationalize it.
People do some things that are a lot of work, with little profit, mostly for the benefit of others, that have no moral dimension. For instance, running a website for fans of Harry Potter. Writing open-source software. Organizing non-professional conventions.
Roland wrote:
Well put.
I’d stop being a vegetarian. Wait; I’m not a vegetarian. (Are there no vegetarians on OvBias?) But I’d stop feeling guilty about it.
I’d stop doing volunteer work and donating money to charities. Wait; I stopped doing that a few years ago. But I’d stop having to rationalize it.
I’d stop writing open-source software. Wait; I already stopped doing that.
Maybe I’m not a very good person anymore.
People do some things that are a lot of work, with little profit, mostly for the benefit of others, that have no moral dimension. For instance, running a website for fans of Harry Potter. Writing open-source software. Organizing non-professional conventions.
(Other people.)