Re: Do we differ more on values or facts?

From: hal@finney.org
Date: Thu Aug 31 2000 - 13:00:00 MDT


Robin writes:
> Under standard accounts, decisions are made by combining positions
> on values and beliefs about facts. One considers all the possible
> relevant states of the world, and beliefs about facts are about how
> likely each state is given each action, while positions on values
> are about how much one would like each state compared to the others.

Classically, philosophers have used this division. As Cicero wrote, "de
gustibus non est disputatum", there's no accounting for taste. There's no
use trying to persuade someone about matters of taste, and values can be
thought of as just our personal taste when applied to ethical questions.

Sometimes, though, differences that appear to be on values are actually
on implicit factual assumptions. Someone may say that they just have
an inherent dislike of the idea of being uploaded, and they would never
support a future where that is commonplace. This appears to be a matter
of values. However upon further discussion it may turn out that they
are assuming that upload life would have certain qualities that it might
not, such as absence of emotions or some kind of cold, logical quality
to the world. The apparent value difference is actually largely due to
factual disagreements about the nature of the uploaded world.

Many of the areas where extropians are different from other people lie in
scenarios that will be exotic and unfamiliar. Concepts like uploading,
singularity, AI, nanotech, intellectual and physical augmentation, will
all be new to most people. It may well be that an initial negative
reaction to these proposals is due as much to questions of fact as to
values. With sufficient discussion and dialogue, it may be possible to
overcome people's initial "instinctive" aversion to extropian scenarios.

Also, there seem to be different levels of values. I feel that most
people have a meta-value which encourages them to adopt values similar
to those around them. Over time, then, success in persuading people
and in organizing them around a value system can lead to more people
adopting that system. So even a true difference in values is something
that can be overcome, although I think different tactics must be used.

Hal



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