From: Eliezer S. Yudkowsky (sentience@pobox.com)
Date: Mon Dec 20 1999 - 01:03:44 MST
Madame Ubiquitous wrote:
>
> As would some guy who rips the heads off of beanie babies. The problem here
> is that you seem to be taking this as coincidental, as two traits in a
> person that have nothing to do with one another (i.e., he's a real jerk, and
> he just happens to also torture Norns). What is it about people who find
> pleasure in torturing cute things which makes them jerks (objectively or
> subjectively...it doesn't really matter)?
I have no evidence that the Norn-torturer is a jerk. I think he just
has a spectacularly warped sense of humor, combined with more
willingness to adjust the moral instincts (to what is, in fact, the
objective reality) than I'd want to essay without a good reason. I eat
meat, and there is not much objective difference between eating meat,
personally hacking off the heads of cows, and shooting baby squirrels
from slingshots to knock down wasp nests. I just think that there are
limits to how far we should go in the name of eliminating moral cowardice.
"Of course I love kittens! Let's exchange recipes."
--
sentience@pobox.com Eliezer S. Yudkowsky
http://pobox.com/~sentience/beyond.html
Typing in Dvorak Programming with Patterns Writing in gender-neutral
Voting for Libertarians Heading for Singularity There Is A Better Way
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