True things, useful things, and the differences between them (with Derek Sivers)

Mar 27, 2024 1h 15m 21 insights Episode Page ↗
Spencer Greenberg speaks with Jeff Sebo about the moral status of insects and AI systems, preventing moral catastrophe, and the repugnant conclusion. They discuss humanity's track record of harm, advocating for caution, humility, and a broader, less human-centric consideration of non-human welfare in ethical decision-making.
Actionable Insights

1. Slow Down Harmful Industrial Practices

Implement global policies to slow down AI research, factory farming, deforestation, and the wildlife trade as a starting point to prevent massive, foreseeable harm and moral catastrophes.

2. Build Comprehensive Ethical Systems

Create and maintain robust systems of rights, cultivate virtuous character traits like respect and compassion, and build caring relationships and just institutions to guide ethical behavior and serve as checks against biased, self-serving decisions.

3. Seek Co-Beneficial Policies & Gradual Progress

Address complex ethical issues by identifying “low-hanging fruit” policies that benefit humans, non-humans, global health, and the environment simultaneously, using these to gradually increase knowledge, capacity, and infrastructure over time.

4. Practice Caution and Humility in Ethics

Approach value judgments and factual judgments about moral matters with caution and humility, especially given persistent disagreement and uncertainty about what truly matters and why.

5. Distrust Intuitions on Moral Significance

Recognize that intuitions about moral significance are subject to bias, ignorance, self-interest, and motivated reasoning, such as favoring beings that look like us or struggling with large numbers (scope insensitivity).

6. Account for Small Chances of Moral Significance

Allow for a non-trivial chance (e.g., 1-5%) that one’s current moral bar might be too high, and give at least minimal consideration to beings who could matter, even if the probability is small.

7. Identify & Promote Intrinsic Values

Figure out what you value for its own sake (intrinsic values) and then take effective actions to increase those values in the world as a guiding life philosophy.

8. Act According to Universalizable Reasons

Strive to act based on considerations that would apply to anyone in your situation, guiding a search for information, coherence, objectivity, and impartiality in your moral life.

9. Cultivate Compassion Through Small Actions

Make a habit of treating individuals (e.g., insects) with respect and compassion, as these small behaviors shape broader attitudes and prevent dismissiveness in higher-stakes situations.

10. Rescue Insects When Possible

Make every reasonable effort to liberate insects from your space (e.g., by getting them in a cup and releasing them outside) because they might matter, and this action cultivates broader respect and compassion.

11. Acknowledge Importance & Difficulty Simultaneously

Recognize that complex ethical issues are both important and difficult at the same time, avoiding the temptation to dismiss their difficulty due to their importance or vice versa.

12. Balance Broader Moral Consideration with Personal Priorities

Understand that extending moral consideration to non-humans does not automatically mean prioritizing them over family or nation, but it does imply setting limits on behavior and sometimes prioritizing them.

13. Set Limits and Prioritize Based on Moral Weight

Put limits on your behavior and, in some circumstances, prioritize the welfare of non-humans, even if it means helping them over less severe issues for one’s own family, recognizing that their suffering matters.

14. Avoid Dogmatism in Peer Disagreement

Do not “dig in your heels” and insist your view is right when smart people disagree; instead, consider the possibility of being wrong and hedge your decisions accordingly.

15. Resist Dismissing Moral Possibilities

Avoid the impulse to close the door on the moral considerability of beings like microbes, plants, or AI systems, and pause to consider if they might merit consideration in the future.

16. Avoid Human-Centric Moral Presumption

Do not simply presume that the human population always possesses the most value and takes priority when making trade-offs between different populations of beings.

17. Consider Even Small Chances of Catastrophic Harm

Recognize that even a 1% or 5% chance of catastrophic harm, especially to vast populations, merits at least a tiny amount of consideration in ethical decision-making.

18. Seek Nuanced Middle Grounds in Debates

Actively search for complicated middle grounds in polarized and simplified debates, as exemplified by the discussion on abortion ethics, rather than defaulting to extreme positions.

19. Adopt a Pluralistic Approach to Ethics

When aiming to do the most good, think in a complicated and pluralistic way, rather than strictly in terms of maximizing happiness and minimizing suffering, as other factors like rights, character, and relationships also matter.

20. Persist in Doing Good Despite Risk of Harm

Understand that the fact that efforts to do good can sometimes cause more harm is not a reason to stop trying to do better, as inaction guarantees ongoing harms.

21. Act with Urgency, Patience, and Humility

Approach ethical action with a sense of urgency about the problems, but also with patience and humility, acknowledging limited perspectives and the inherent risks and harms in any course of action.