If everyone in town magically receives the same speedup in their “verbal footwork”, is that good for meta-honesty? I would like some kind of story explaining why it wouldn’t be neutral.
Point for yes: Sure seems like being able to quickly think up an appropriately nonspecific reference class when being questioned about a specific hypothetical does not make it harder for anyone else to do the same.
Point against:
The code of literal truth only lets people navigate anything like ordinary social reality to the extent that they are very fast on their verbal feet, and can respond to the question “How are you?” by saying “Getting along” instead of “Horribly” or with an awkward silence while they try to think of something technically true.
This particular case seems anti-inductive and prone to the euphemism treadmill. Indeed, one person one time can navigate ordinary social reality by saying “Getting along” instead of giving an awkward silence; but many people doing so many times will find that it tends to work less well over time. If everyone magically becomes faster on their verbal feet, they can all run faster on the treadmill, but this isn’t necessarily good for meta-honesty.
Implications: either cognitive enhancement becomes even more of a moral priority, or adhering to meta-honesty becomes a trustworthy signal of being more intelligent than those who don’t. Neither outcome seems terrible to me, nor even all that much different from the status quo.
If everyone in town magically receives the same speedup in their “verbal footwork”, is that good for meta-honesty? I would like some kind of story explaining why it wouldn’t be neutral.
Point for yes:
Sure seems like being able to quickly think up an appropriately nonspecific reference class when being questioned about a specific hypothetical does not make it harder for anyone else to do the same.
Point against:
This particular case seems anti-inductive and prone to the euphemism treadmill. Indeed, one person one time can navigate ordinary social reality by saying “Getting along” instead of giving an awkward silence; but many people doing so many times will find that it tends to work less well over time. If everyone magically becomes faster on their verbal feet, they can all run faster on the treadmill, but this isn’t necessarily good for meta-honesty.
Implications: either cognitive enhancement becomes even more of a moral priority, or adhering to meta-honesty becomes a trustworthy signal of being more intelligent than those who don’t. Neither outcome seems terrible to me, nor even all that much different from the status quo.