[extropy-chat] Pleasure as ultimate measure of morality [Was: Pleasing Oneself]

[Jef Allbright]

On 2/27/07, Stathis Papaioannou <stathisp at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> If I could interject, I think what is commonly understood by "pleasure" is
> too simplistic in this context. Shall I eat the cake or shall I abstain?
> Eating the cake will be pleasurable; on the other hand, eating the cake may
> cause me to put on weight. If the anticipated pleasure of eating the cake
> outweighs the anxiety about putting on weight, I will eat it; if the other
> way around, I won't. Every factor is added to the mix when making a
> decision, including more complex emotions such as a sense of responsibility
> and ethical and aesthetic considerations. At each point, the path taken is
> the path of greater total pleasure.

Stathis, yes, yours is a slightly more refined view but it suffers
from the same assumption--that consciousness is effectively in the
loop.  It's a variation on the the same confusion of context that has
agents acting to achieve goals they set for themselves, as if it were
possible that they could have such a privileged view of themselves.
It's the same conceptual form as Cosmides and Tooby's statement that
organisms are not fitness maximizers but rather they are adaptation
executors. It's nearly the same as the Buddhist's understanding of
annata.

You, Stathis, are so close that you know all the details of the
perimeter, but you have yet to break through and find that once inside
everything stays the same except clearer.

Lizbeth and I are relaxing with drinks so this will be all the
philosophy for me this evening...

- Jef