From: Adrian Tymes (wingcat@pacbell.net)
Date: Sun May 14 2000 - 11:43:56 MDT
"Eliezer S. Yudkowsky" wrote:
> And no, I don't want to be a hero. I think it loses some of the whole
> point if you're a hero. I'm not making a permanent moral commitment
> which, if abandoned or altered, would mean that I'd betrayed everything
> a Singularitarian should stand for. Once you become a hero, then PR
> forces you to never re-evaluate your own choices. And there's also a
> sort of gloating involved, where, even if you *say* you refuse to
> comment on the choices of others - well, obviously, they're still
> *wrong*, right? Even if you're too *wise* and *tolerant* to call anyone
> else on it?
No...a hero who makes mistakes is still a hero. You have to be able to
state clearly why you were mistaken, and not change course *too* often,
but if you gain a reputation for being able to find out when you're
wrong before too much has happened, that may in fact increase the trust
people place in you. (I am speaking from personal experience here, at
least the experience of having been treated as such.)
And perhaps that is the kind of role model we could be, leading by
example so as to encourage others to be like us?
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