Epistemology Sequence, Part 4: Updating Ontologies Based On Values
What’s a good ontology? Well, the obvious question is, good relative to what? Relative to your values, of course. In the last post I talked about how, given an ontology for describing the world, you...
View ArticleEpistemology Sequence, Part 5: Extension and Universality
One of the properties that you’d like a learning agent to have is that, if your old concepts work well, learning a new concept should extend your knowledge but not invalidate your old knowledge....
View ArticleAesthetics are moral judgments
I often hear people say things like “It’s ridiculous to judge that someone’s a bad person because of his musical taste!” People assume it’s obvious that aesthetic judgments have no moral weight. For...
View ArticleWe could regrow livers
There are currently 16,000 Americans on the waiting list for a liver transplant, but there are only enough livers for 6000 transplants a year. Every year, more than 1500 people die waiting for a liver...
View ArticleForbearance
I don’t agree entirely with this post by Patri Friedman, but I think it’s pointing at something important. Patri is disturbed by the politicization of previously non-political organizations — people...
View Article