Scott Alexander summarizes and responds to reader comments on his article about Matt Yglesias and Nietzschean philosophy, exploring various perspectives on master and slave morality. Longer summary

This post highlights comments on Scott Alexander's article about Matt Yglesias and Nietzschean philosophy. It covers various perspectives on master and slave morality, critiques of different thinkers mentioned in the original post, and other related topics. The comments explore nuances in Nietzsche's philosophy, discuss the applicability of these concepts to modern society, and debate the merits of different moral frameworks. Shorter summary

Scott Alexander examines Nietzsche's concepts of 'master morality' and 'slave morality', analyzing their modern manifestations and exploring potential compromises between these opposing moral frameworks. Longer summary

Scott Alexander explores the concepts of 'master morality' and 'slave morality' introduced by Nietzsche, analyzing their manifestations in modern society and various ideologies. He discusses how these moral frameworks are reflected in figures like Ayn Rand, Andrew Tate, and Matt Yglesias, as well as in movements like effective altruism. The post examines the tensions between these moral systems and attempts to find a balance or transcendence of the dichotomy, ultimately suggesting that a cyclical, civilization-building approach might offer a meaningful compromise. Shorter summary

The review critically examines and then steelmans Robert Wright's claims about meditation and enlightenment in 'Why Buddhism Is True', concluding with personal reflections on meditation's effects. Longer summary

This review of Robert Wright's 'Why Buddhism Is True' explores the book's central claim that meditation can free us from evolutionary illusions and lead to enlightenment. The reviewer initially presents a critical view, questioning whether Wright's version of enlightenment might lead to a nihilistic state. However, the review then steelmans Wright's arguments, suggesting that meditation could potentially lead to a more morally aware state by strengthening 'calm passions' and removing craving and aversion. The reviewer concludes by sharing personal experiences from a meditation retreat that align with Wright's more optimistic vision, while acknowledging the subjective nature of these experiences. Shorter summary

The post explores how correlated variables can diverge at extreme values, applying this concept to happiness measures and moral systems. Longer summary

This post explores the concept of 'tails coming apart' and its application to various domains, particularly morality. The author begins by discussing how strongly correlated variables can diverge at extreme values, using examples like grip strength vs. arm strength. He then applies this concept to happiness, showing how different measures of happiness (e.g., life satisfaction, positive emotions) can lead to different countries being ranked as 'happiest'. The post extends this idea to morality, arguing that while different moral systems may agree in everyday situations, they diverge dramatically when taken to extremes. The author suggests that this divergence poses challenges for developing moral systems that can handle transhuman scenarios. Shorter summary

Scott Alexander speculates on how concepts from decision theory and AI could lead to the emergence of a God-like entity across the multiverse, which judges and potentially rewards human behavior. Longer summary

Scott Alexander explores a speculative theory about the nature of God and morality, combining concepts from decision theory, AI safety, and multiverse theory. He proposes that superintelligences across different universes might engage in acausal trade and value handshakes, eventually forming a pact that results in a single superentity identical to the moral law. This entity would span all possible universes, care about mortal beings, and potentially reward or punish them based on their adherence to moral behavior. The post connects these ideas to traditional religious concepts of an all-powerful, all-knowing God who judges human actions. Shorter summary

Scott explores moral offsetting, introducing a framework distinguishing axiology, morality, and law to argue that we can offset axiological but not moral violations. Longer summary

This post explores the concept of moral offsetting, comparing it to carbon offsetting and questioning its limitations. Scott introduces a framework distinguishing between axiology (study of what's good), morality (study of right actions), and law (legal rules). He argues that these concepts make different compromises between goodness, implementation, and coordination. Using this framework, Scott proposes that we can offset axiology but not morality. For example, carbon emissions or meat consumption can be offset as they don't violate moral laws, while murder cannot be offset as it does. The post concludes that this framework provides a clearer answer to the moral offsetting problem than previous attempts, though acknowledging it's somewhat speculative. Shorter summary

Scott Alexander examines how recent AI progress in neural networks might challenge the Bostromian paradigm of AI risk, exploring potential implications for AI goal alignment and motivation systems. Longer summary

This post discusses how recent advances in AI, particularly in neural networks and deep learning, might affect the Bostromian paradigm of AI risk. Scott Alexander explores two perspectives: the engineer's view that categorization abilities are just tools and not the core of AGI, and the biologist's view that brain-like neural networks might be adaptable to create motivation systems. He suggests that categorization and abstraction might play a crucial role in developing AI moral sense and motivation, potentially leading to AIs that are less likely to be extreme goal-maximizers. The post ends by acknowledging MIRI's work on logical AI safety while suggesting the need for research in other directions as well. Shorter summary

Scott proposes adapting DW-Nominate, a political spectrum analysis tool, to study morality through real-life decisions, exploring its potential implications and limitations. Longer summary

Scott proposes using a method similar to DW-Nominate, a tool used to calculate politicians' positions on the political spectrum, to investigate morality. He suggests applying this method to real-life moral decisions people make, from major choices to everyday actions. The post explores how this could potentially group people into 'good' and 'bad' categories, identify the most moral actions, and possibly provide insights into contentious moral issues. Scott also discusses how this method might work in morally inverted societies like Nazi Germany, presenting three hypothetical outcomes and their implications for understanding morality objectively. Shorter summary

Scott Alexander explores whether atheists can fully appreciate Chesterton's work, arguing that the moral beauty in his writing stems more from modern humanism than Christianity itself. Longer summary

Scott Alexander discusses whether atheists can appreciate the works of G.K. Chesterton, a Christian author. He argues that the moral qualities that make Chesterton and C.S. Lewis admirable are more a product of modernity than Christianity itself. Scott suggests that these authors took humanist ideas and dressed them in Christian clothing. He explores several reasons why the Christian framework might be particularly effective for conveying moral beauty, including the power of myth, legitimacy, a different perspective, and a focus on the individual. Lastly, he considers the challenge for atheists in portraying Good as an active, terrifying force, but finds some hope in works like 'Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality'. Shorter summary

Scott Alexander uses a king-and-viziers analogy to argue that people can be inherently good even when their actions seem selfish, and explores the nature of evil and human goodness. Longer summary

Scott Alexander explores the concept of human goodness using an analogy of a wise king misled by evil viziers. He argues that people can be inherently good even when their actions seem selfish, much like the king who makes bad decisions based on biased information. Scott suggests that we should identify people with the 'king' of their minds rather than the 'viziers', seeing them as fundamentally good despite their actions. He discusses the nature of evil, defining it as certain habits of mind that make it easy for one's 'viziers' to mislead them. The post ends by relating this concept to Trivers' theory of consciousness. Shorter summary

Mike humorously recounts grounding morality in IHOP's waffles after a meta-ethics discussion, highlighting the challenges in reaching agreement on such topics. Longer summary

This post is a short humorous dialogue between Mike and Alicorn about grounding morality. Mike recounts a past discussion on meta-ethics with a college friend at IHOP, where they jokingly decided to ground morality in waffles after seeing a sign praising IHOP's waffles. The post uses this absurd idea to poke fun at the difficulty of reaching agreement in meta-ethical discussions. Shorter summary

Scott Alexander argues that virtue ethics is neither how people naturally think about morality nor an effective way to make people more moral, proposing alternative methods and using a grammar analogy to illustrate his point. Longer summary

Scott Alexander critiques virtue ethics, arguing that it is neither how people naturally think about morality nor an effective way to make people more moral. He describes his own experience of morality as contrary to virtue ethics in many ways. Scott then suggests alternative methods for improving morality, such as certain beliefs and practices, with meditation being his top recommendation. He concludes that virtue ethics doesn't satisfy the criteria for effectively grounding morality and that there are many better alternatives. The post ends with an analogy comparing virtue ethics to a hypothetical 'virtue grammar' to further illustrate his point. Shorter summary