From: Eliezer S. Yudkowsky (sentience@pobox.com)
Date: Sat May 18 2002 - 18:32:22 MDT
Dossy wrote:
>
> Children and people in general must do the things they
> are obligated to do because we're responsible for them.
> Not because we're merely paid to do them. When my
> daughter is old enough to take out the trash, I expect
> her to do it because it's her duty and responsibility
> as her part of the family, not because she's earning
> an allowance.
Woohoo! Someone has *totally forgotten* their childhood! Okay, try this
one on for size: Some faraway adults you have no influence on decide,
without consulting you, based on rules and logic into which you have no
input, that you have a "responsibility" and "duty" to do something. This is
called "getting no respect". It is why *you* now have a job instead of
living with your parents. You can argue with your children about the cash
value of regular meals when they turn 13. Meanwhile, pay up, because having
"responsibilities" over which you have no control, and for which you receive
no compensation *that you control*, may easily put your kids off the concept
of responsibility entirely. Responsibilities and duties are something that
you choose for yourself. Not an imposition from outside.
Your children are going to see morality differently than you do. Rightly or
wrongly, it's going to happen, so get used to it now; don't work yourself up
into an advance frenzy of rage over the prospect. Parenthood is *not* an
opportunity to feel good about your own morality, although it is certainly
an opportunity to learn important new self-control skills.
-- -- -- -- --
Eliezer S. Yudkowsky http://singinst.org/
Research Fellow, Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence
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