IMO the source of this apparent conflict is that wepretendthatour values and beliefs are something different from our actual (unconscious) values and beliefs. The “conflict” is either just play-acting about how we take those pretense value seriously, or an attempt to justify the contradiction between stated and revealed preferences without giving up on the pretense.
Right, I think this is a pretty plausible hypothesis.
Here’s another perspective: Scott is writing the perspective of (something like) the memes, who exert some control but don’t have root access. The memes have a lot of control over when we feel good or bad about ourselves (this is a primary control mechanism they have). But the underlying biological organism has more control over what we actually do or don’t do.
The memes also don’t have a great deal of self-awareness of this split agency. They see themselves as the biological organism. So they’re actually a bit puzzled about why the organism doesn’t maximize the memetic values all the time.
One strategy which the memes use, in response to this situation, is to crank up the guilt-o-meter whenever actions don’t reflect explicitly endorsed values.
Scott and Nate are both arguing against this strategy. Scott’s SSC perspective is something like: “Don’t feel guilty all the time. You don’t have to go all the way with your principles. It’s OK to apply those principles selectively, so long as you make sure you’re not doing it in a biased way to get what you want.”
This is basically sympathetic to the “you should feel guilty if you do bad things” idea, but arguing about how to set the threshold.
Nate’s Minding Our Way perspective is instead: “Guilt isn’t an emotion that a unified agent would feel. So you must be a fractured agent. You’re at war with yourself; what you need is a peace treaty. Work to recognize your fractured architecture, and negotiate better and better treaties. After a while you’ll be acting like a unified agent.”
IMO the source of this apparent conflict is that we pretend that our values and beliefs are something different from our actual (unconscious) values and beliefs. The “conflict” is either just play-acting about how we take those pretense value seriously, or an attempt to justify the contradiction between stated and revealed preferences without giving up on the pretense.
Right, I think this is a pretty plausible hypothesis.
Here’s another perspective: Scott is writing the perspective of (something like) the memes, who exert some control but don’t have root access. The memes have a lot of control over when we feel good or bad about ourselves (this is a primary control mechanism they have). But the underlying biological organism has more control over what we actually do or don’t do.
The memes also don’t have a great deal of self-awareness of this split agency. They see themselves as the biological organism. So they’re actually a bit puzzled about why the organism doesn’t maximize the memetic values all the time.
One strategy which the memes use, in response to this situation, is to crank up the guilt-o-meter whenever actions don’t reflect explicitly endorsed values.
Scott and Nate are both arguing against this strategy. Scott’s SSC perspective is something like: “Don’t feel guilty all the time. You don’t have to go all the way with your principles. It’s OK to apply those principles selectively, so long as you make sure you’re not doing it in a biased way to get what you want.”
This is basically sympathetic to the “you should feel guilty if you do bad things” idea, but arguing about how to set the threshold.
Nate’s Minding Our Way perspective is instead: “Guilt isn’t an emotion that a unified agent would feel. So you must be a fractured agent. You’re at war with yourself; what you need is a peace treaty. Work to recognize your fractured architecture, and negotiate better and better treaties. After a while you’ll be acting like a unified agent.”