From: Johnicholas Hines (johnicholas.hines@gmail.com)
Date: Tue Mar 03 2009 - 10:45:27 MST
On Tue, Mar 3, 2009 at 11:54 AM, Matt Mahoney <matmahoney@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Some people will be willing to step into the teleporter booth. Some won't. The first question is irrelevant because neither side is likely to convince the other that their views are correct without appealing to emotion and lies.
Meta: Could we perhaps use the actual subject of the discussion
(destructive uploading as an alternative to death of old age), rather
than the teleporter booth metaphor? I think it is no longer adding to
intuition.
We agree, some people would be willing to be uploaded, and some people
would not be willing. We also agree that neither side is likely to
convince the other that their views are correct without appealing to
emotion. But inside a discussion which is about the group's utility
function, emotions are relevant.
The group's utility function is related, though not identical, to all
of the individual's utility functions. As I understand it, we are
discussing which emotions are socially appropriate to feel at a novel
situation - uploading someone in order to "prevent" them from dying.
Should we feel grief, because this is analogous to the familiar
situation of the person dying? Should we feel joy, because this is
analogous to familiar situation of the person being rescued by
medicine?
Johnicholas
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