Comment by awbvious
10 hours ago
SMBC comic from 5 days ago: https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/chip
Claude Fable “Humans would rather be harmed by someone who meant well than helped by someone who didn't care, and this preference for intent over outcome quietly wrecks more lives than malice does.” Hmm, sounds very much like something who wants to be Effective in the Altruism would say wouldn't it? Saying "intent over outcome ... wrecks more lives" is a hop and a skip away from utilitarianism. "Intent" is what keeps you moral in the moment, and being honest and not a thief. "Outcome" cannot be predicted though EA would love to think it can be. Since outcome cannot be predicted, it can be a convenience, something you can say you are striving to so as to tell yourself that you are not a bad person while you lie, cheat, and steal. Basically cognitive dissonance.
Like how our enlightened Founding Fathers can be slave owners. "All men are created equal..." Wait, I have slaves... Oh, I know, they're just not actual humans, now I'm still a good person. Whew. I'm going to stop thinking at exactly this moment. Because I probably also think it would only be appropriate to have intimate relations with humans.
I really can't think of EA as being much different. Interesting that the /Anthropic/ model came up with this.
Garbage in, garbage out.
You don't have to be an EA to take issue with the importance of intent. I put a high value on intent when trying to understand a person, but when having to evaluate an action taken intent barely matters to me.
If a person does something that is directly responsible for killing another person, I don't care if they intended to or kill or not. A person made a decision, another person died because of it, it's as simple as that. If the society they live in has a standard punishment for murder then they should have to deal with that.
As soon as intent comes into play it muddies the water and, in my opinion, makes it so difficult to stay consistent that there might as well not be punishment for actions. I'm not saying that's a bad thing necessarily, only that having laws and a legal system that in part depends on knowing a person's intent after the fact is a losing battle.