"Narrative Self-Deception: The Ultimate Elephant in the Brain?"
An attempt to critique and build upon @robinhanson and @KevinSimler's The Elephant in the Brain. Trying to expose a great optimism elephant that conveniently ignores bad things.https://magnusvinding.com/2018/09/27/narrative-self-deception-the-ultimate-elephant-in-the-brain/ …
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I *really* appreciated this post. Like Robin said, the "life is good" claim isn't really something we argue for. In fact, I'll be honest, it was a little bit flippant. I thought of it as a "spoonful of sugar" to make the rest of our book more palatable to some people.
More importantly, though, I think you're entirely correct to flag it as an area where the forces of self-deception are especially strong. "Life is bad" is one of the least popular opinions a person can hold! So we should all be very wary of our judgment here.
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Indeed, and maybe we should listen to those naturally skeptical (I'm not, really), such as the speaker in the following videos, who opened my eyes (he makes many of the same points you do in The Elephant, except he ties it into a decidedly negative story):https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1mJnEmjlLE&list=PLcmZ9oxph4sxzDfr2oH6tpNij-YUH5dy3 …
Thanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. UndoUndo
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fwiw, I've engaged a little with these ideas, mostly by reading Sarah Perry's book "Every Cradle is a Grave." I still happen to think human life/consciousness is subjectively good, broadly and on net, but that book made me a lot less certain about it.
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"Net good" can be a little deceptive here and is worth scrutinizing, I think. One can think most human lives are "net positive" yet not think these justify the worst of suffering experienced by a few. The Omelas scenario gives many pause, and yet no extreme suffering is involved.
End of conversation
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