I decided to value the survival of my species, assigned intrinsic, terminal value to it, because it’s a fountain for so much of the stuff I instinctively value.
Right, because if you forgot everything else that you value, you would be able to rederive that you are an agent as described in Thou Art Godshatter:
Such agents would have sex only as a means of reproduction, and wouldn’t bother with sex that involved birth control. They could eat food out of an explicitly reasoned belief that food was necessary to reproduce, not because they liked the taste, and so they wouldn’t eat candy if it became detrimental to survival or reproduction. Post-menopausal women would babysit grandchildren until they became sick enough to be a net drain on resources, and would then commit suicide.
Or maybe not. See, the value of a theory is not just what can explain, but what it can’t explain. It is not enough that your fountain generates your values, it also must not generate any other values.
Did you miss the part where I said that the value I place on the survival of my species is secondary to my own personal survival?
I recognize that, for example, nonreproductive sex has emotional consequences and social implications. Participation in a larger social network provides me with access to resources of life-or-death importance (including, but certainly not limited to, modern medical care) that I would be unable to maintain, let alone create, on my own. Optimal participation in that social network seems to require at least one ‘intimate’ relationship, to which nonreproductive sex can contribute.
As for what my theory can’t explain: If I ever take up alcohol use for social or recreational purposes, that would be very surprising; social is subsidiary to survival, and fun is something I have when I know what’s going on. Likewise, it would be a big surprise if I ever attempt suicide. I’ve considered possible techniques, but only as an academic exercise, optimized to show the subject what a bad idea it is while there’s still time to back out. I can imagine circumstances under which I would endanger my own health, or even life, to save others, but I wouldn’t do so lightly. It would most likely be part of a calculated gambit to accept a relatively small but impressive-looking immediate risk in exchange for social capital necessary to escape larger long-term risks. The idea of deliberately distorting my own senses and/or cognition is bizarre; I can accept other people doing so, provided they don’t hurt me or my interests in the process, but I wouldn’t do it myself. Taking something like caffeine or Provigil for the cognitive benefits would seem downright Faustian, and I have a hard time imagining myself accepting LSD unless someone was literally holding a gun to my head. I could go on.
Right, because if you forgot everything else that you value, you would be able to rederive that you are an agent as described in Thou Art Godshatter:
Or maybe not. See, the value of a theory is not just what can explain, but what it can’t explain. It is not enough that your fountain generates your values, it also must not generate any other values.
Did you miss the part where I said that the value I place on the survival of my species is secondary to my own personal survival?
I recognize that, for example, nonreproductive sex has emotional consequences and social implications. Participation in a larger social network provides me with access to resources of life-or-death importance (including, but certainly not limited to, modern medical care) that I would be unable to maintain, let alone create, on my own. Optimal participation in that social network seems to require at least one ‘intimate’ relationship, to which nonreproductive sex can contribute.
As for what my theory can’t explain: If I ever take up alcohol use for social or recreational purposes, that would be very surprising; social is subsidiary to survival, and fun is something I have when I know what’s going on. Likewise, it would be a big surprise if I ever attempt suicide. I’ve considered possible techniques, but only as an academic exercise, optimized to show the subject what a bad idea it is while there’s still time to back out. I can imagine circumstances under which I would endanger my own health, or even life, to save others, but I wouldn’t do so lightly. It would most likely be part of a calculated gambit to accept a relatively small but impressive-looking immediate risk in exchange for social capital necessary to escape larger long-term risks. The idea of deliberately distorting my own senses and/or cognition is bizarre; I can accept other people doing so, provided they don’t hurt me or my interests in the process, but I wouldn’t do it myself. Taking something like caffeine or Provigil for the cognitive benefits would seem downright Faustian, and I have a hard time imagining myself accepting LSD unless someone was literally holding a gun to my head. I could go on.