From: Jef Allbright (jef@jefallbright.net)
Date: Tue Mar 02 2004 - 09:14:20 MST
Metaqualia wrote:
>>Assuming that we are in agreement so far, then you may notice that the
>>more fundamental process underlying maximizing qualia is Growth.
> Hi Jef, thanks for your comment. I think that if we are going for
> maximization of positive qualia and minimization of negative qualia, then
> growth is necessary. No way we can reduce negative qualia without growing. I
> just put growth as a subgoal that's all, I object to people saying that
> growth is a goal in itself, that it's justified and it should be an index of
> morality. As long as growth serves a purpose then it is very welcome.
To be clear, I do not consider growth a goal.
By the way, I really like the way these discussions tend to expand and
clarify our thinking on difficult subjects.
In my thinking on ethics the following points have emerged with some
clarity:
Definition of morality
* "Moral" choices are those that are seen as good and consistent in the
broadest sense.
Basis for moral reasoning
* There seems to be an "arrow of morality", such that as organisms
evolve to broader levels of context, their goals tend to align toward a
universal morality.
Method of moral reasoning
* A scientific understanding of growth -- the dynamics of
organizational complexity -- will help us make choices *that work* at
various organizational scales. (This applies to both choosing goals and
finding ways to achieve them.)
Out of this developing science will come principles that will be
popularly and effectively adopted as new moral rules. These new rules
will be applicable over a wider scope and with more specificity than the
moral rules of old.
Older moral rules such as The Golden Rule, Kant's Categorical
Imperative, The Ten Commandments, The Eightfold Path of Buddhism, will
be superseded by principles from the science of complex organizational
dynamics.
As these principles are extracted and popularized, people will begin to
communicate their moral choices in terms such as the following:
"Because it maximizes effective growth",
"Because it maximizes diversity",
"Because it maximizes effective interaction",
"Because it increases the freedom of the system"
"Because it preserves the information structure",
or...
"Because it is more extropic". ;-)
- Jef
http://www.jefallbright.net
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