The second account on which I was not clear is how much my points about fine-grainedness are related to Yuskowsky’s reflections about “reference class tennis”. There is arbitraryness in defining classes. And if you carve classes differently to find out which classes people care about, you find yourself with arbitrary options. When I care about the art in Far Venus, I’m not sure I care about “any art” “any art resembling ours” “any art not resembling hip hop and gore” or “only things that are isomorphic to symphonies”
Likewise I don’t know this about them, Venusians, and this makes a big difference on whether I should create more generic forms of art here, or more fine grained ones.
I wouldn’t use reference classes at all. I’d just ask, “How many other civilizations care about this particular proposed piece of artwork?” I personally don’t care intrinsically about art, but if you asked an art enthusiast, I bet she would say “I care about Venusian masterpiece X” for lots of specific values of X that they might create.
The idea of caring specifically about human quirks rather than alien quirks seems akin to ethnocentrism, though I can see the concern about becoming too broad such that what you care about becomes diluted. I expect people’s horizons will become more cosmopolitan on this question over time, just as has been the historical trend. The march of multiculturalism may one day go intergalactic.
Think about multiverse utilitarianism as a normative force. If it is to be taken seriously, it’s main consequence will be making things more normal. More evolvable. Less peculiar and unique.
I don’t mind human quirks in particular that much (including art) when I’m wearing the “thinking about multiverses hat”. My point is that an ethical MultiWorld should be such that when we value the difference between Burning Man, Buddhist Funerals, Godel’s theorems and Axl Rose’s temper are valued in their difference. What matters about those artifacts of cultural crafstsmanship is not that which a bumblebee or an equidna might have created (will to power, hunger, eagerness to reproduce, symmetry) What matters involves the difference itself.
One of the things that make those things awesome is their divergence.
If Far Venus has equivalent diversity, I’m happy for them. I don’t want to value what they share with us (being constrained by some physics, by logic, by evolution, and by the sine qua non conditions for intelligent life, whichever they are).
Ah, I see. The value of diversity is plausibly convergent, because most organisms will need boredom and novelty-seeking. If many civilizations value diversity, they would each be happy to let each other do their own diverse artwork. So this “force” might not lead to homogenization.
The second account on which I was not clear is how much my points about fine-grainedness are related to Yuskowsky’s reflections about “reference class tennis”. There is arbitraryness in defining classes. And if you carve classes differently to find out which classes people care about, you find yourself with arbitrary options. When I care about the art in Far Venus, I’m not sure I care about “any art” “any art resembling ours” “any art not resembling hip hop and gore” or “only things that are isomorphic to symphonies”
Likewise I don’t know this about them, Venusians, and this makes a big difference on whether I should create more generic forms of art here, or more fine grained ones.
I wouldn’t use reference classes at all. I’d just ask, “How many other civilizations care about this particular proposed piece of artwork?” I personally don’t care intrinsically about art, but if you asked an art enthusiast, I bet she would say “I care about Venusian masterpiece X” for lots of specific values of X that they might create.
The idea of caring specifically about human quirks rather than alien quirks seems akin to ethnocentrism, though I can see the concern about becoming too broad such that what you care about becomes diluted. I expect people’s horizons will become more cosmopolitan on this question over time, just as has been the historical trend. The march of multiculturalism may one day go intergalactic.
Think about multiverse utilitarianism as a normative force. If it is to be taken seriously, it’s main consequence will be making things more normal. More evolvable. Less peculiar and unique.
I don’t mind human quirks in particular that much (including art) when I’m wearing the “thinking about multiverses hat”. My point is that an ethical MultiWorld should be such that when we value the difference between Burning Man, Buddhist Funerals, Godel’s theorems and Axl Rose’s temper are valued in their difference. What matters about those artifacts of cultural crafstsmanship is not that which a bumblebee or an equidna might have created (will to power, hunger, eagerness to reproduce, symmetry) What matters involves the difference itself. One of the things that make those things awesome is their divergence.
If Far Venus has equivalent diversity, I’m happy for them. I don’t want to value what they share with us (being constrained by some physics, by logic, by evolution, and by the sine qua non conditions for intelligent life, whichever they are).
Ah, I see. The value of diversity is plausibly convergent, because most organisms will need boredom and novelty-seeking. If many civilizations value diversity, they would each be happy to let each other do their own diverse artwork. So this “force” might not lead to homogenization.