Re: Ethical basics

From: ben goertzel (ben@goertzel.org)
Date: Wed Jan 23 2002 - 15:56:16 MST


>To be a Singularitarian you have to
> have enough self-awareness to actually work *for the Singularity* and not
> let your genes just use the Singularity meme as a path for their own
> purposes. This is not a minor issue.

Realistically, however, there's always going to be a mix of altruistic and
individualistic motivations, in any one case -- yes, even yours...

> The basis of the evolution of honorableness instincts and even altruistic
> instincts is game theory, and specifically the iterated Prisoner's
> Dilemna. Good books to read are Douglas Hofstadter's "Metamagical
> Themas", which contains a discussion of the game theory of altruism in a
> couple of the chapters (and the rest of the book is also a great deal of
> fun); "The Moral Animal" by Robert Wright; "The Origins of Virtue" by Matt
> Ridley.

These are all very good books, however I don't believe that game theory is a
*complete* explanation of the origins honorableness and altruism, I think
it's just one important part of the puzzle...

-- Ben G



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