[When thinking about what I value, should I take peer disagreement into account?]
Consider the question “What’s the best career for me?”
When we think about choosing careers, we don’t update to the career choice of the smartest person we know or the person who has thought the most about their career. Instead, we seek out people who have approached career choice with a similar overarching goal/framework (in my case, 80,000 Hours is a good fit), and we look toward the choices of people with similar personalities (in my case, I notice a stronger personality overlap with researchers than managers, operations staff, or those doing earning to give).
When it comes to thinking about one’s values, many people take peer disagreement very seriously.
I think that can be wise, but it shouldn’t be done unthinkingly. I believe that the quest to figure out one’s values shares strong similarities with the quest of figuring out one’s ideal career. Before deferring to others with one’s deliberations, I recommend making sure that others are asking the same questions (not everything that comes with the label “morality” is the same) and that they are psychologically similar in the ways that seem fundamental to what you care about as a person.
[When thinking about what I value, should I take peer disagreement into account?]
Consider the question “What’s the best career for me?”
When we think about choosing careers, we don’t update to the career choice of the smartest person we know or the person who has thought the most about their career. Instead, we seek out people who have approached career choice with a similar overarching goal/framework (in my case, 80,000 Hours is a good fit), and we look toward the choices of people with similar personalities (in my case, I notice a stronger personality overlap with researchers than managers, operations staff, or those doing earning to give).
When it comes to thinking about one’s values, many people take peer disagreement very seriously.
I think that can be wise, but it shouldn’t be done unthinkingly. I believe that the quest to figure out one’s values shares strong similarities with the quest of figuring out one’s ideal career. Before deferring to others with one’s deliberations, I recommend making sure that others are asking the same questions (not everything that comes with the label “morality” is the same) and that they are psychologically similar in the ways that seem fundamental to what you care about as a person.