From: Lee Corbin (lcorbin@tsoft.com)
Date: Sat Mar 22 2003 - 14:46:47 MST
Eliezer writes
> Lee Corbin wrote:
> >
> > But surely this cannot be true of everyone, can it? I mean,
> > if you became intimately familiar everything ever done by
> > Ted Bundy, Charles Ng, Adolph Hitler, or Saddam Hussein,
> > surely you would still detest and abhor this individual, no?
>
> It is not necessary to hate something in order to oppose it. What matters
> it to you if I view Adolf Hitler as a loathsome bug or an abused child, as
> long as I counter his plans?
It matters how you view someone, that is, whether you
love them, hate them, or are indifferent to them,
because ultimately it is your values and the way that
your emotions interface with them, that determines
what actions you will take. I think it's a complete
myth to suppose that one can be driven by rationality
alone.
> I oppose the punishment of non-punishers; it may be
> an ESS but I don't think it's a good thing.
You oppose the punishment of non-punishers in general?
Do you not think that one could easily create a scenario
in which inflicting punishment on the non-punishers,
or upon anyone actually, would be the right thing to do?
Now if we abstract away from any practical situation,
then I oppose the punishment of *anyone*. So long as I'm
sitting fat and comfortable, and no friends or relatives of
mine have been tortured or murdered by a sadistic dictator,
then I wish even very evil people well.
As an example---so that one may understand exactly how
abstractly I am talking here---suppose that you here and
now in the year 2003 have three choices with what to do
with Joseph Stalin, who has (thankfully) been dead 50 years
and 17 days.
(A) Stalin will get run time in a small cubic centimeter
near the orbit of Pluto, where he will have ample
time to reflect on his life's accomplishments, his
victories, and enjoy vodka at a resort on the Black
Sea with his chums (portrayed versions of Beria etc.).
(B) Stalin will continue to not exist.
(C) Stalin will undergo punishment for his hideous crimes:
for each person that he had tortured and who he had
deliberately murdered, he will be forced to undergo
some fraction of their suffering, and the suffering
of the countless families associated with his victims.
What say you? (A), (B), or (C)?
Lee
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Sat Mar 22 2003 - 14:50:11 MST