I wish moneymaking was by default aligned with optimising for the “good”. That way, I can focus on making money without worrying too much about the messiness of morality. I wholly believe that existential risks are unequivocally the most critical issues of our time because the cost of neglecting them is so enormous, and my rational self would like to work directly on reducing them. However, I’m also profoundly programmed through millions of years of evolution to want a lovely house in the suburbs, a beautiful wife, some adorable children, lots of friends, etc. I do not claim that the two are impossible to reconcile. Instead, I argue that it’s easier to achieve status maximising goals without caring too much about the morality of my career. I’d like to not feel guilty for my natural propensity toward earning more status. (When I say status, I don’t mean rationality community status, I mean broader society status.)
Note that this is a complaint about morality, not about moneymaking.
Making money is aligned with satisfying some desires of some people. But morality is all about the messiness of divergent and unaligned humans and sets of humans (and non-human entities and future/potential humans who don’t have any desires yet, but will at some point).
It would be so lovely had we lived in a world where any means of moneymaking helped us move uphill on the global morality landscape comprising the desires of all beings. That way, we can make money without feeling guilty about doing it. Designing a mechanism like this is probably impossible.
I wish moneymaking was by default aligned with optimising for the “good”. That way, I can focus on making money without worrying too much about the messiness of morality. I wholly believe that existential risks are unequivocally the most critical issues of our time because the cost of neglecting them is so enormous, and my rational self would like to work directly on reducing them. However, I’m also profoundly programmed through millions of years of evolution to want a lovely house in the suburbs, a beautiful wife, some adorable children, lots of friends, etc. I do not claim that the two are impossible to reconcile. Instead, I argue that it’s easier to achieve status maximising goals without caring too much about the morality of my career. I’d like to not feel guilty for my natural propensity toward earning more status. (When I say status, I don’t mean rationality community status, I mean broader society status.)
Note that this is a complaint about morality, not about moneymaking.
Making money is aligned with satisfying some desires of some people. But morality is all about the messiness of divergent and unaligned humans and sets of humans (and non-human entities and future/potential humans who don’t have any desires yet, but will at some point).
That’s an eloquent way of describing morality.
It would be so lovely had we lived in a world where any means of moneymaking helped us move uphill on the global morality landscape comprising the desires of all beings. That way, we can make money without feeling guilty about doing it. Designing a mechanism like this is probably impossible.