Evan WardExperience Machines Support Ethical Hedonism“***Suppose there was an experience machine that would give you any experience you desired. Super-duper neuropsychologists could stimulate…Jan 15, 2020Jan 15, 2020
Evan WardMaking Total Utilitarianism More IntuitiveBLUF: If total utilitarianism’s obligation to create new beings seems non-intuitive, think of increased numbers of beings as increased…Jan 15, 2020Jan 15, 2020
Evan WardMy Beliefs, in a NutshellThis post tries to clarify some of my fundamental philosophical beliefs, which I take for granted in much of my other writing. If anything…Jan 15, 2020Jan 15, 2020
Evan WardKeeping Suffering Connected to Survivability to Reduce Suffering RiskBLUF: I believe this is an impotant heuristic to reduce the risk of future astronomical suffering.Jan 15, 20201Jan 15, 20201
Evan WardYour Acts Need Not Be UniversalizableBLUF: The categorical imperative is deeply flawed. There is no escaping cost-benefit aOct 3, 2019Oct 3, 2019
Evan WardOur Responsibility to Reduce Personal RiskInsofar as the {expected value of the world with us alive} minus {the expected value of the world with us dead} is positive, we have an…Oct 2, 2019Oct 2, 2019
Evan WardNarrowing in on Cause XBLUF: Since we’ve unsuspectedly committed moral atrocities in the past and do not appear to have 100% solved ethics, our Bayesian prior…Oct 2, 2019Oct 2, 2019
Evan WardWe Should Have Prevented Other Countries from Obtaining NukesEver since nuclear weapons fell into the hands of the USSR and other countries beyond the United States (or the first remotely ethical…Feb 28, 2019Feb 28, 2019
Evan WardSuspend Moral Self-Judgement for Higher-Quality ReasoningI think most people have an intense psychological need to feel they are ‘good’. After all, if we are not ‘good’, we probably have extra…Feb 27, 2019Feb 27, 2019