From: Jef Allbright (jef@jefallbright.net)
Date: Tue Feb 01 2005 - 11:58:04 MST
Sebastian Hagen wrote:
> Wouldn't it be more obvious to promote a fast increase of entropy?
> After all, increasing entropy appears to be what the universe is
> continually doing. Assuming it actually was designed to do something
> simple, wouldn't "move from a state of absolute order to absolute
> disorder" be a more likely candidate than causing those strange
> high-level but intuitive-for-humans activities?
> I can't help but think that the paraphrased Timothy Ferris just wanted
> to elevate their (perceived) subjective highest-level goals to a state
> of objective ethics/morals.
Sebastian, I don't know if you're actually doing reductio ad absurdum or
playing devil's advocate here, but I don't see how you could promote a
fast increase of entropy as good in relation to human values. Worse, it
appears to be an obvious example of trying to derive ought from is.
On the other hand, if you were referring to a local increase in order,
at the expense of overall increase of entropy outside the local system,
then that could be seen as good for humans, not for the direct reason
that it is natural, but for the indirect reason that we, who evolved
with this, subjectively value it.
- Jef
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