I’m confused by what the World Values Survey means when it says that secular-rational societies see suicide as relatively acceptable. Aside from the case of terminal illnesses that cause great suffering, saying that suicide is okay would definitely be a fringe view. My steelperson would be that it’s saying that while traditional societies see it as personally damaging to one’s reputation and their family, secular-rational societies see it as an issue with society – but I’m not sure that it is saying that.
I would encourage you to expand on your point “I feel that people whose attitudes fall below common Western baselines of tolerance are less deserving of wealth and prosperity.” It reads to me as something like ethnocentric or parochial, and it seems to run counter to the common EA principle that everyone is equally deserving of welfare, at least before we take into account instrumental effects. While we might want to incentivize greater tolerance, I wouldn’t phrase it as that people who are less tolerant are less deserving of prosperity.
I would definitely say that suicide is more accepted among secular-rational people. Sure it’s not legal but there are people pushing for it, and people have different attitudes about it (they think it’s a tragedy rather than condemning it). Not really relevant here though since I don’t make a judgment on it (I just leave content like this in to cover all the bases and be ready in case I change my mind).
I would encourage you to expand on your point “I feel that people whose attitudes fall below common Western baselines of tolerance are less deserving of wealth and prosperity.” It reads to me as something like ethnocentric or parochial, and it seems to run counter to the common EA principle that everyone is equally deserving of welfare, at least before we take into account instrumental effects. While we might want to incentivize greater tolerance, I wouldn’t phrase it as that people who are less tolerant are less deserving of prosperity.
It’s neither ethnocentric nor parochial. My view is to treat people the way I would want to treat them if I knew them well and knew what it was like to be them, aggregated in a basically utilitarian manner. I don’t care to give a full explanation/argument since this could be a bad point of view to spread compared to pure neutrality. But it’s my view.
I’m confused by what the World Values Survey means when it says that secular-rational societies see suicide as relatively acceptable. Aside from the case of terminal illnesses that cause great suffering, saying that suicide is okay would definitely be a fringe view. My steelperson would be that it’s saying that while traditional societies see it as personally damaging to one’s reputation and their family, secular-rational societies see it as an issue with society – but I’m not sure that it is saying that.
I would encourage you to expand on your point “I feel that people whose attitudes fall below common Western baselines of tolerance are less deserving of wealth and prosperity.” It reads to me as something like ethnocentric or parochial, and it seems to run counter to the common EA principle that everyone is equally deserving of welfare, at least before we take into account instrumental effects. While we might want to incentivize greater tolerance, I wouldn’t phrase it as that people who are less tolerant are less deserving of prosperity.
I would definitely say that suicide is more accepted among secular-rational people. Sure it’s not legal but there are people pushing for it, and people have different attitudes about it (they think it’s a tragedy rather than condemning it). Not really relevant here though since I don’t make a judgment on it (I just leave content like this in to cover all the bases and be ready in case I change my mind).
It’s neither ethnocentric nor parochial. My view is to treat people the way I would want to treat them if I knew them well and knew what it was like to be them, aggregated in a basically utilitarian manner. I don’t care to give a full explanation/argument since this could be a bad point of view to spread compared to pure neutrality. But it’s my view.