Re: The Meaning of Life

CurtAdams@aol.com
Mon, 10 Feb 1997 15:30:55 -0500 (EST)


sentience@pobox.com (Eliezer Yudkowsky) writes:

>I identify with the head, you with the heart.

All sane humans identify with both. The head provides the thinking to get
what the heart wants.

>There is a difference between the "value" and
>"justification" slots of goals.
>Although my general cognitive systems are tuned to
>follow the value, I try to hack it up so I follow the justification.

But justification must follow from premises, which cannot be derived
logically. In humans the premises come from the heart. You're just saying
you analyze your premises more carefully than most people, who run about with
self-contradictory premises because they let their "heart decide" (i.e., just
accept what premise it coughs up that day). This is very sensible, but it
doesn't mean that your base goals are derived logically, only that you apply
logic aggressively and constently to achieve your goals.