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.
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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.
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