And of course, Yudkowsky’s fiction, while not exactly EA, was inspiring to many people.
In some ways, the EA creed requires being against empathy in an important way. We can’t just care for those close to us, or those with sympathetic stories. But of course that kind of impartiality is also a story. So at the very least, fiction is useful as a kind of reverse mind-control or intuition pump.
For what it’s worth, in this particular instance, I don’t find “impartiality” to be a useful source of emotional motivation. Working on animal welfare for example, you might find it more helpful to develop selective empathy post-hoc.
That sounds silly, but it’s basically just reverse of what people typically do. Normally we form emotional judgements and then rationalize them after the fact, there’s no reason you can’t do the opposite.
You might be familiar with Bostrom’s Fable of the Dragon Tyrant https://www.nickbostrom.com/fable/dragon.html
And of course, Yudkowsky’s fiction, while not exactly EA, was inspiring to many people.
In some ways, the EA creed requires being against empathy in an important way. We can’t just care for those close to us, or those with sympathetic stories. But of course that kind of impartiality is also a story. So at the very least, fiction is useful as a kind of reverse mind-control or intuition pump.
For what it’s worth, in this particular instance, I don’t find “impartiality” to be a useful source of emotional motivation. Working on animal welfare for example, you might find it more helpful to develop selective empathy post-hoc.
That sounds silly, but it’s basically just reverse of what people typically do. Normally we form emotional judgements and then rationalize them after the fact, there’s no reason you can’t do the opposite.