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Why I Do What I Do

jason.ml · 519 words · saved by 1 readers

Understanding that, on the default trajectory, my life will be cut much shorter, have much less value and richness than it could be. The first came from a realization I had in a lift in Beijing in Winter when I was 9, thinking about the families in the apartments that we passed. The second, from an understanding of the absurdity of death from the "Fable of the Dragon Tyrant", and then an existential fear of the full the annihilation of a soul. Sometimes it helps to stare truth directly in the eyes. These motivations definitely don't make me selfless — I play such a large role in the way that I understand and perceive the world. On occasion, and I'm not sure why I'm admitting it here, I would entertain the acausal-trade-between-superintelligences version of the simulation hypothesis, and wonder idly whether I and my friends were the only people alive. Otherwise, the enormity of the suffering in the world would be truly hard to bear. I try to keep it tucked into a corner of my mind. But

Why I Do What I Do There are, looking back, two central motivations for me: Understanding that the lives of others are as complex and rich and valuable as my own Understanding that, on the default trajectory, my life will be cut much shorter, have much less value and richness than it could be. The first came from a realization I had in a lift in Beijing in Winter when I was 9, thinking about the families in the apartments that we passed. The second, from an understanding of the absurdity of death from the " Fable of the Dragon Tyrant ", and then an existential fear of the full the annihilation

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