✳flâneur — a map of the web's best reading

Causality and Moral Responsibility — LessWrong

lesswrong.com · 10,924 words · saved by 1 readers

I know (or could readily rediscover) how to build a binary adder from logic gates. If I can figure out how to make individual logic gates from Legos or ant trails or rolling ping-pong balls, then I can add two 32-bit unsigned integers using Legos or ant trails or ping-pong balls. Someone who had no idea how I'd just done the trick, might accuse me of having created "artificial addition" rather than "real addition". But once you see the essence, the structure that is addition, then you will automatically see addition whenever you see that structure. Legos, ant trails, or ping-pong balls. Even if the system is - gasp!- deterministic, you will see a system that, lo and behold, deterministically adds numbers. Even if someone - gasp! - designed the system, you will see that it was designed to add numbers. Even if the system was - gasp!- caused, you will see that it was caused to add numbers. Let's say that John is standing in front of an orphanage which is on fire, but not quite an infe

x Causality and Moral Responsibility — LessWrong Causality Ethics & Morality Metaethics Personal Blog 64 Causality and Moral Responsibility by Eliezer Yudkowsky 13th Jun 2008 5 min read 62 64 Followup to : Thou Art Physics , Timeless Control , Hand vs. Fingers , Explaining vs. Explaining Away I know (or could readily rediscover) how to build a binary adder from logic gates . If I can figure out how to make individual logic gates from Legos or ant trails or rolling ping-pong balls, then I can add two 32-bit unsigned integers using Legos or ant trails or ping-pong balls. Someone who had no idea

Explore this link on the map →

related reading