In my LevelUp 2024 debate with Alex O’Connor about morality (video and Q&A below), I objected to his thought experiment in which he hypothesized human beings as immortal and sought to draw truths about morality from this alien context.
Alex seems to understand that suffering has a subconscious origin, problably derived from evolutionary processes, but that is only partially true. Yes, that is there BUT, WHY it is there?
Suffering is the indication that something is detrimental to life, hunger, pain is natures ways to tell the organism to go the other way, avoid it.
So, what when it happens to others, not me, YES there is the compassion aspect, BUT WHY?
Because no suffering is more valuable than useless suffering. We can kill an animal and eat it, but if it dies for nothing it is potentially less food for the future.
A rational mind would recognize this patterns and act accordingly. Emotions are just nature's way to express an objective value.
Morality is a concept that presupposes "choice" - freely exercised choice. In the discussion, Alex's crimson shaded premise and "what ifs" immortality, thereby logically removing morality from the issue, making it a stolen concept.
Alex seems to understand that suffering has a subconscious origin, problably derived from evolutionary processes, but that is only partially true. Yes, that is there BUT, WHY it is there?
Suffering is the indication that something is detrimental to life, hunger, pain is natures ways to tell the organism to go the other way, avoid it.
So, what when it happens to others, not me, YES there is the compassion aspect, BUT WHY?
Because no suffering is more valuable than useless suffering. We can kill an animal and eat it, but if it dies for nothing it is potentially less food for the future.
A rational mind would recognize this patterns and act accordingly. Emotions are just nature's way to express an objective value.
Morality is a concept that presupposes "choice" - freely exercised choice. In the discussion, Alex's crimson shaded premise and "what ifs" immortality, thereby logically removing morality from the issue, making it a stolen concept.