From: Eliezer S. Yudkowsky (sentience@pobox.com)
Date: Thu Jan 07 1999 - 19:07:08 MST
Lee Daniel Crocker wrote:
>
> > Imagine Albert Einstein breaking a store window and grabbing the
> > merchandise, running away with a boom box on his shoulder, his wispy
> > white hair flying in all directions as the German physicist anxiously
> > looks back over his shoulder for pursuing cops.
> > That's the kind of morals and ethics he had, right, Terry?
>
> Well, if one is to be consistent in applying moral judgment to
> everyone, then yes, those were his morals. That he chose to steal
> with votes rather than a mask and gun is no excuse to me. I can,
> however, separate the genius and scientific integrity of the man
> from his lack of personal integrity.
Pardon me? "Lack of personal integrity?" That's a rather strong
phrase, don't you think? Let's not Atlas overboard. The strong exist
to serve the weak - but I consider myself one of the strong, and would
never dream of enunciating that theory for my own benefit, or for that
matter of using force to compel any person A to serve person B. Does my
defiance of Ayn Rand's morality make me a looter? And for that matter,
there is a long way between saying "I have a right to your new stereo"
and stealing it. One can believe in that right, while still believing
that your property rights take precedence.
I don't think that socialism/Libertarianism has anything to do with lack
of personal integrity. It is possible to be a socialist and still have
plenty of personal integrity; it's just stupid, because socialism has
been demonstrated not to work. Personal integrity is defined by your
unswerving adherence to high ideals for deeply altruistic reasons, not
the intelligence or stupidity manifest in choosing those ideals.
If Libertarian countries were squalid, criminal, poverty-stricken,
fear-ruled countries, and socialist countries were wealthy,
technological, educated bastions of opportunity, I would be a socialist.
Does this reflect my lack of personal integrity?
--
sentience@pobox.com Eliezer S. Yudkowsky
http://pobox.com/~sentience/AI_design.temp.html
http://pobox.com/~sentience/sing_analysis.html
Disclaimer: Unless otherwise specified, I'm not telling you
everything I think I know.
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