From: Lee Corbin (lcorbin@tsoft.com)
Date: Sun Apr 28 2002 - 13:27:12 MDT
Lee Daniel Crocker wrote
> > (Eliezer Yudkowsky)
> > If you were really a selfish rationalist, you would cleverly remain silent
> > and let altruistic memes propagate, thus maximizing the number of people
> > working to your benefit. You certainly would not feel the need to argue the
> > morality of selfishness in public forums. Say what you like about rational
> > selfishness; it can't consistently propagate itself as a meme.
>
> Oh, poppycock. My selfish interests are better served /in the long
> run/ by others acting in their own self-interest. It makes them
> simpler to deal with; more predictable. It makes them build the economy,
> innovate, and create. It creates greater opportunities for trade.
> ...I am selfish, but I don't want your charity--I want your trade.
Well, I'm sure that Eliezer would be happy to sell you what he
intends to give away to the rest of us, and I'm sure that you'd
be happier paying him---so there's no problem.
> It minimizes the time I have to spend fighting altruistic legislators.
I assume that you're not at all serious here: the so-called
"altrusitic" legislators that you're speaking of, aren't they the
ones that pass a lot of laws restricting what other people can
do, and whose greatest desire is for more and more power?
Point taken: a businessman creating wealth in his own country by
raising and selling crops has plenty to complain about if some
altruistic foreign nation ruins him by giving food away for free.
> My selfish interests are better served /in the long
> run/ by others acting in their own self-interest.
Very true in all ordinary situations, but the Singularity could be
an extraordinary situation.
Lee Corbin
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Sat Nov 02 2002 - 09:13:40 MST