Executive summary: The post proposes a thought experiment where a person is cursed to not feel emotions or die, yet retains moral reasons to help others. This suggests artificial agents could also act morally without emotions or self-interest.
Key points:
The curse eliminates desires (appetites and emotions) but leaves prudence and impartial reasons.
Some humans would still act morally to help others, suggesting moral reasons can persist without desires or self-interest.
This thought experiment suggests artificial agents could also act morally without emotions or self-interest, just from recognizing moral reasons.
Moral reasons seem to provide motivation distinct from desires and self-interest for some humans and potentially artificial agents.
Feeling positive emotions from moral acts may not be necessary to keep acting morally over time.
The crux is whether artificial agents can recognize and be motivated by impartial moral reasons, not just desires and self-interest.
This comment was auto-generated by the EA Forum Team. Feel free to point out issues with this summary by replying to the comment, andcontact us if you have feedback.
Executive summary: The post proposes a thought experiment where a person is cursed to not feel emotions or die, yet retains moral reasons to help others. This suggests artificial agents could also act morally without emotions or self-interest.
Key points:
The curse eliminates desires (appetites and emotions) but leaves prudence and impartial reasons.
Some humans would still act morally to help others, suggesting moral reasons can persist without desires or self-interest.
This thought experiment suggests artificial agents could also act morally without emotions or self-interest, just from recognizing moral reasons.
Moral reasons seem to provide motivation distinct from desires and self-interest for some humans and potentially artificial agents.
Feeling positive emotions from moral acts may not be necessary to keep acting morally over time.
The crux is whether artificial agents can recognize and be motivated by impartial moral reasons, not just desires and self-interest.
This comment was auto-generated by the EA Forum Team. Feel free to point out issues with this summary by replying to the comment, and contact us if you have feedback.