Manacling you in a dungeon also triggers your mental node for freedom and also triggers the appearance of restrictions and constraints, and more so you are the direct subject yourself. It lacks a control group and feels like a confirmation-biased experiment.
If I simply told you (and you have easy means of confirming that I’m telling the truth) that I’m restricting the movements of a dozen people you’ve never heard of, and the restriction of freedom is done in such a way that the “victims” will never even be aware that their freedoms are being restricted (e.g. giving a mental imperative to spend eight hours a day in a certain room with a denial-of-denial clause for it), would you still have the same intense this-is-wrong terminal value for no other reason than that their freedom is taken from them in some manner?
If so, why are employment contracts not making you panic in a constant stream of negative utility? Or compulsive education? Or prison? Or any other form of freedom reduction which you might not consider to be about “freedom” but which certainly fits most reductions of it?
Yes, I meant “freedom for me”—I thought that was implied.
If I simply told you (and you have easy means of confirming that I’m telling the truth) that I’m restricting the movements of a dozen people you’ve never heard of, and the restriction of freedom is done in such a way that the “victims” will never even be aware that their freedoms are being restricted (e.g. giving a mental imperative to vote republican with a denial-of-denial clause for it), would you still have the same intense this-is-wrong terminal value for no other reason than that their freedom is taken from them in some manner?
I would not want to be one of those people. If you convincingly told me that I was one of those people, I’d try to get out of it. If I was concerned about those people and thought they also valued freedom, I’d try to help them.
employment contracts
My employment can be terminated at will by either party. There are some oppressive labor laws that make this less the case, but they mostly favor me and neither myself nor my employer is going to call on them. What’s an “employment contract” and why would I want one?
compulsive education
Compulsory education is horrible. It’s profoundly illiberal and I believe it’s a violation of the constitutional amendment against slavery. I will not send my children to school and “over my dead body” is my response to anyone who intends to take them. I try to convince my friends not to send their children to school either.
prison
I don’t intend to go to prison and would fight to avoid it. If my friends were in prison, I’d do what I could to get them out.
I would not want to be one of those people. If you convincingly told me that I was one of those people, I’d try to get out of it. If I was concerned about those people and thought they also valued freedom, I’d try to help them.
...therefore, if you are never aware of your own lack of freedom, you do not assign value to this. Which loops around back to the appearance of freedom being your true value. This would be the most uncharitable interpretation.
It seems, however, that in general you will be taking the course of action which maximizes the visible freedom that you can perceive, rather than a course of action you know to be optimized in general for widescale freedom. It seems more like a cognitive alert to certain triggers, and a high value being placed on not triggering this particular alert, than valuing the principles.
Edit: Also, thanks for indulging my curiosity and for all your replies on this topic.
Manacling you in a dungeon also triggers your mental node for freedom and also triggers the appearance of restrictions and constraints, and more so you are the direct subject yourself. It lacks a control group and feels like a confirmation-biased experiment.
If I simply told you (and you have easy means of confirming that I’m telling the truth) that I’m restricting the movements of a dozen people you’ve never heard of, and the restriction of freedom is done in such a way that the “victims” will never even be aware that their freedoms are being restricted (e.g. giving a mental imperative to spend eight hours a day in a certain room with a denial-of-denial clause for it), would you still have the same intense this-is-wrong terminal value for no other reason than that their freedom is taken from them in some manner?
If so, why are employment contracts not making you panic in a constant stream of negative utility? Or compulsive education? Or prison? Or any other form of freedom reduction which you might not consider to be about “freedom” but which certainly fits most reductions of it?
Yes, I meant “freedom for me”—I thought that was implied.
I would not want to be one of those people. If you convincingly told me that I was one of those people, I’d try to get out of it. If I was concerned about those people and thought they also valued freedom, I’d try to help them.
My employment can be terminated at will by either party. There are some oppressive labor laws that make this less the case, but they mostly favor me and neither myself nor my employer is going to call on them. What’s an “employment contract” and why would I want one?
Compulsory education is horrible. It’s profoundly illiberal and I believe it’s a violation of the constitutional amendment against slavery. I will not send my children to school and “over my dead body” is my response to anyone who intends to take them. I try to convince my friends not to send their children to school either.
I don’t intend to go to prison and would fight to avoid it. If my friends were in prison, I’d do what I could to get them out.
...therefore, if you are never aware of your own lack of freedom, you do not assign value to this. Which loops around back to the appearance of freedom being your true value. This would be the most uncharitable interpretation.
It seems, however, that in general you will be taking the course of action which maximizes the visible freedom that you can perceive, rather than a course of action you know to be optimized in general for widescale freedom. It seems more like a cognitive alert to certain triggers, and a high value being placed on not triggering this particular alert, than valuing the principles.
Edit: Also, thanks for indulging my curiosity and for all your replies on this topic.