Thanks for this! IMO thinking about what it even means to do good under extreme uncertainty is still underrated.
I don’t see how this post addresses the concern about cluelessness, though.
My problem with the construction analogy is: Our situation is more like, whenever we place a brick we might also be knocking bricks out of other parts of the house. Or placing them in ways that preclude good building later. So we don’t know if we’re actually contributing to the construction of the house on net.
On your takeaway at the bottom, it seems to be: “if someone doing A is a necessary condition for a particular good outcome X, that’s a reason for you to do A”. Granted. But the whole problem is that I don’t know how to weigh this reason against the reasons favoring me doing not-A. Why do you think we ought to privilege the particular reason that you point to?
Thanks! I’m not trying to resolve concerns around cluelessness in general, and I agree there are situations (many or even most of the really tough ‘cluelessness’ cases) where the whole ‘is this constructive?’ test isn’t useful, since that can be part of what you’re clueless about, or other factors might dominate.
Why do you think we ought to privilege the particular reason that you point to?
Well, I’m saying the ‘is this constructive’ test is a way to latch on to a certain kind of confidence, viz the confidence that you are moving towards a better world. If others also take constructive actions towards similar outcomes, and/or in the fullness of time, you can be relatively confident you helped get to that better world.
This is not the same thing as saying your action was right, since there are locally harmful ways to move toward a better world. And so I don’t have as much to say about when or how much to privilage this rule!
Thanks for this! IMO thinking about what it even means to do good under extreme uncertainty is still underrated.
I don’t see how this post addresses the concern about cluelessness, though.
My problem with the construction analogy is: Our situation is more like, whenever we place a brick we might also be knocking bricks out of other parts of the house. Or placing them in ways that preclude good building later. So we don’t know if we’re actually contributing to the construction of the house on net.
On your takeaway at the bottom, it seems to be: “if someone doing A is a necessary condition for a particular good outcome X, that’s a reason for you to do A”. Granted. But the whole problem is that I don’t know how to weigh this reason against the reasons favoring me doing not-A. Why do you think we ought to privilege the particular reason that you point to?
Thanks! I’m not trying to resolve concerns around cluelessness in general, and I agree there are situations (many or even most of the really tough ‘cluelessness’ cases) where the whole ‘is this constructive?’ test isn’t useful, since that can be part of what you’re clueless about, or other factors might dominate.
Well, I’m saying the ‘is this constructive’ test is a way to latch on to a certain kind of confidence, viz the confidence that you are moving towards a better world. If others also take constructive actions towards similar outcomes, and/or in the fullness of time, you can be relatively confident you helped get to that better world.
This is not the same thing as saying your action was right, since there are locally harmful ways to move toward a better world. And so I don’t have as much to say about when or how much to privilage this rule!