I love how people on lesswrong change minds so readily
Hahahaha I completely interpreted this as sarcasm at first. I’m obviously still getting used to lesswrongers myself :)
So, this feeling of dis-satisfaction you are reporting is commonly termed “Existential Angst”. “Existentialism” is the idea that morality has no basis in anything deeper than the individual. It’s common after deconversions and is related to the whole “God is Dead” Nietzsche thing, and the question of how we can start rebuilding a framework for morality beyond mere hedonism from that point.
Yeah. Do you know what got me started on this whole idea? I linked to it at the bottom of the article, but I was asking if there was any good reason to pursue ambition over total hedonism, and I now think that the answer is “goodness is an end-in-itself too” and I’m pretty okay with it.
At some point, I think you’ll stop feeling like your preferences and values were arbitrarily chosen by cold random unfeeling processes, and start feeling like the physics driving the “alien god” is really just a natural part of you, and that your values and preferences are a really integral part of you and you start treating those things with an almost religious reverence. I think once you really understand all that goes into making you conscious and where “good’ comes from, the whole thing stops being cold and unfeeling and starts being warm and satisfying.
Wow, I really like how you put that. Other people have tried to share a similar concept with me, but it always seemed cheesy and superficial. It never really started to sink in until now. I think it was the words “natural” and “warm” that did it for me. So thanks!
I linked to it at the bottom of the article, but I was asking if there was any good reason to pursue ambition over total hedonism, and I now think that the answer is “goodness is an end-in-itself too” and I’m pretty okay with it.
The way I look at it is, I’m good because that is what I prefer. There are many possible futures. I prefer some of those futures more than the others. I try my best to choose my favorite future with my actions. “Goodness” is part of what I prefer to happen, which is why I choose it. (And a version of me which didn’t prefer goodness wouldn’t be me, preferring goodness is a pretty big part of what goes into the definition of “me”.)
Wow, I really like how you put that. Other people have tried to share a similar concept with me, but it always seemed cheesy and superficial. It never really started to sink in until now. I think it was the words “natural” and “warm” that did it for me. So thanks!
Very glad I could be helpful! I find Neil D.Tyson / Sagan-esque talk kinda cheesy too. But I remember when I was a kid dabbling in philosophy, thinking hard about free will and monitoring my own thoughts for any trace of randomness, and suddenly it just became really clear that my thoughts and feelings followed predictable processes and there wasn’t any sharp boundary between the laws governing objects and the laws governing minds. It was kind of a magical moment, I felt pretty connected to the universe and all that jazz. It is cheesy, but it’s pretty hard to talk about these sorts of spiritual-ish experiences without sounding cheesy.
Hahahaha I completely interpreted this as sarcasm at first. I’m obviously still getting used to lesswrongers myself :)
Yeah. Do you know what got me started on this whole idea? I linked to it at the bottom of the article, but I was asking if there was any good reason to pursue ambition over total hedonism, and I now think that the answer is “goodness is an end-in-itself too” and I’m pretty okay with it.
Wow, I really like how you put that. Other people have tried to share a similar concept with me, but it always seemed cheesy and superficial. It never really started to sink in until now. I think it was the words “natural” and “warm” that did it for me. So thanks!
The way I look at it is, I’m good because that is what I prefer. There are many possible futures. I prefer some of those futures more than the others. I try my best to choose my favorite future with my actions. “Goodness” is part of what I prefer to happen, which is why I choose it. (And a version of me which didn’t prefer goodness wouldn’t be me, preferring goodness is a pretty big part of what goes into the definition of “me”.)
Very glad I could be helpful! I find Neil D.Tyson / Sagan-esque talk kinda cheesy too. But I remember when I was a kid dabbling in philosophy, thinking hard about free will and monitoring my own thoughts for any trace of randomness, and suddenly it just became really clear that my thoughts and feelings followed predictable processes and there wasn’t any sharp boundary between the laws governing objects and the laws governing minds. It was kind of a magical moment, I felt pretty connected to the universe and all that jazz. It is cheesy, but it’s pretty hard to talk about these sorts of spiritual-ish experiences without sounding cheesy.