Me being alive is a relatively small part of my values.
I agree some people (such as yourself) might be extremely altruistic, and therefore might not care much about their own life relative to other values they hold, but this position is fairly uncommon. Most people care a lot about their own lives (and especially the lives of their family and friends) relative to other things they care about. We can empirically test this hypothesis by looking at how people choose to spend their time and money; and the results are generally that people spend their money on themselves, their family and their friends.
since I am not the director of the world, me personally being around to influence things is unlikely to have a decisive impact on things I value.
You don’t need to be director of the world to have influence over things. You can just be a small part of the world to have influence over things that you care about. This is essentially what you’re already doing by living and using your income to make decisions, to satisfy your own preferences. I’m claiming this situation could and probably will persist into the indefinite future, for the agents that exist in the future.
I’m very skeptical that there will ever be a moment in time during which there will be a “director of the world”, in a strong sense. And I doubt the developer of the first AGI will become the director of the world, even remotely (including versions of them that reflect on moral philosophy etc.). You might want to read my post about this.
I agree some people (such as yourself) might be extremely altruistic, and therefore might not care much about their own life relative to other values they hold, but this position is fairly uncommon. Most people care a lot about their own lives (and especially the lives of their family and friends) relative to other things they care about. We can empirically test this hypothesis by looking at how people choose to spend their time and money; and the results are generally that people spend their money on themselves, their family and their friends.
You don’t need to be director of the world to have influence over things. You can just be a small part of the world to have influence over things that you care about. This is essentially what you’re already doing by living and using your income to make decisions, to satisfy your own preferences. I’m claiming this situation could and probably will persist into the indefinite future, for the agents that exist in the future.
I’m very skeptical that there will ever be a moment in time during which there will be a “director of the world”, in a strong sense. And I doubt the developer of the first AGI will become the director of the world, even remotely (including versions of them that reflect on moral philosophy etc.). You might want to read my post about this.