September 17 2018 RRG Notes
You Don’t Get To Know What You’re Fighting For
Previously discussed on 2017-03-20
- It’s a lot easier to know what you’re working against than to know what you’re working for
- When we work towards a goal, we often find that the goals shifts or evaporates as we work towards it
- Even if you say you know what you’re fighting for, it’s possible to be wrong
- Humans have extremely imperfect introspection
- We should be suspicious of anyone who claims to know their entire preference set
- Fortunately, you don’t need to have a precise definition of what you’re fighting for in order to be an effective altruist
- It’s possible to know that a direction is correct, even if you can’t clearly formulate a description of the destination
- The world is awful enough that most of the time, it suffices to select the action that’s least incorrect and do that
“Should” Considered Harmful
Previously discussed on 2017-04-03
- The word “should” puts us in direct and unnecessary conflict with ourselves
- Saying “should” immediately removes the direct motivation for a task and turns it into an obligation
- If you start to fail at a task that you “should” be succeeding at, you panic, and that only makes the failure worse
- Think through every alternative branch, even the ones where you fail
- You don’t have to convince yourself that failure is okay
- Thinking about failures makes scenarios concrete
- Concrete scenarios are easier to reason about and guard against
- Keep a tally of whenever you use the word “should”
- Restate your obligations without the word “should”
Not Because You “Should”
Previously discussed on 2017-04-03
- Stop doing things because you “should”
- “Should” is not a basis for motivation
- Find the real reasons for performing actions
- If you can’t find a reason beyond “should”, maybe you don’t need to perform the action
- The best way to become an altruist is to have a genuine desire to help, not a “should”-based moral obligation
Your “shoulds” are not a duty
Previously discussed on 2017-04-03
- Objection: If we put our wants on the same scale as our moral obligations, we might make the “wrong” choice
- If it’s possible for your wants to override your moral obligations, then maybe they’re not really your moral obligations
- There is not external authority telling you that you should do things
- “Should” comes from within
- A real moral commitment doesn’t even feel like a choice - the right thing to do is “obvious” and you go do it
Working yourself ragged is not a virtue
Previously discussed on 2017-04-03
- There is a pernicious belief that it is unvirtuous to stop working if you’re physically able to continue
- Your goal is to maximize the integral of productivity, not the derivative
- Slowing down can be helpful if it allows you to work for longer
- Your body and mind are limited resources; they need to be used as wisely as anything else