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0 pointsUnFleshedOne4y ago0 comments

You can't say values are irrational -- they just are. If you really like paperclips, no amount of logic can tell you otherwise. What logic can tell you (and other people could), is that your values conflict with each other and you have to balance one against another. Turning whole universe into paperclips is counterproductive if you also value pins. If you literally have no value the other person is basing their arguments on, then they can't convince you to have it.

Luckily we get our values from bunch of heuristics developed through millions of years of biological and social evolution, so we mostly have the same ones, just with different relative weights.

Won't be true if we ever meet (or make) some other sentient critters.

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kazinator4y ago

> You can't say values are irrational

People basically do say that, though.

(Values can be contradictory/inconsistent. E.g. you say you value self-preservation, but you also enjoy whacking your head with a hammer. That would be a kind of irrational. That's not what I'm referring to though.)

UnFleshedOneOP4y ago

I think they make a category mistake when they do then. Values tell you where you want to be, rationality is a most accurate process to get where you want to go and maybe to check if you want to be there before actually getting there and checking out personally. (I think we basically agree btw btw, it is all those other people who are wrong :))

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