Chapter 6: Back To Reality

Human vs. Machine

By now, we have learned a lot of new philosophical language. We can precisely describe what is going on in a moral discussion. How about we try out our new philosophical tools? Below, we will be bystanders to two discussions. One will be a moral argument between two people. Next to it, we will watch our robot friends, Speedy Sam and Dumb Dan. They will have a discussion about processing speed that will have many similarities to the moral discussion. Remember, correct-ism says that human morals are just like the self-reprogramming robots that were initially designed for the single goal of speed. If our theory works well, we should be able to see the parallels. The key difference between the people and the robots is that we care about many things while the robots have only one basic goal. Also, I picked a pretty clear topic for the humans to debate. I think you will find, however, that even tricky moral topics can be fit into the same mold.

Fred: I think you should stop owning slaves, Marcia	Sam: You should monitor television transmissions, Dan	Fred/Sam evaluates Marcia/Dan
Marcia: But why, Fred?	Dan: But why, Sam?
F: Slavery is bad!	S: Watching television is good!	In both cases, we can turn the "should" statement into an objective fact about morals
M: Without my slaves, I could not maintain my plantation	D: If I watched TV, I would not have as much time for my work	Dan & Marcia have rules of behavior that are different from those of Sam & Fred.
F: But by treating your slaves as property, you are denying them their basic human rights	S: But you know nothing of human social interactions	Each points out a fact they think the other will agree with…
M: Slaves do not have human rights	D: Human social interactions are irrelevant	…But it doesn't always work…
F: Look- why do you think you and I have human rights?	S: Look- why do you say "Thank you" at the end of all your correspondence with humans?	…So we must dig deeper, into the reasons behind the beliefs we take for granted.
M: Well, we just do. I wouldn't want you to infringe on my rights. It's the golden rule, you know?	D: Well, I do that because it seems obvious. Statistically, I’ve found that people respond with more information when my requests included such a phrase.	We may not have even noticed the origin of some of our rules of behavior, because they are specific instances of very basic behavior rules- the golden rule, or the rule to acquire knowledge
F: So if you were a slave, would you mind if people infringed on your rights?	S: So by knowing human social habits, you are able to acquire more information, right?	We try to make moral progress. We point out areas where others have made a mistake and neglected to apply a rule they usually apply.
M: But that's different. I'm not a slave	D: But that's different. The fact that humans end emails with "Thank you" was a specific pattern I happened to observe. You are talking about general study of human social behavior, without a specific fact to find.	There is always resistance to changing our rules of behavior. To learn a new moral idea, we usually have to rethink behavior rules that we trust.
F: Does it really matter that your slaves are slaves and you are not? You are both people, aren't you?	S: Does it really matter if your knowledge of human social behavior is something you stumble on or something you actively study?	So we haven't applied a rule. Isn't this a situation in which it should be applied?
M: I guess that's right. We're all people, after all	D: I guess you are right. All knowledge of human behavior leads to improved ability to get assistance from humans	Aha! We've dug deep enough to find a fact that both sides can agree on- the golden rule applies to all people, or that getting assistance from humans is valuable. Note that these are not the basic biological or pre-programmed motivations in either case, but rather higher-level rules.

Correct-ism seems to be working well. The humans discussing their moral positions looked very much like the robots, working out the most effective way to process faster.

The End?

You’ve made it to the end! You just spent a long while thinking about very abstract concepts. So what do you have to show for it? What was the point of reading this book?

Well, I certainly have not taught you how to think morally. Humans are decision-making machines; we cannot help but make moral decisions. You knew all this stuff on some level before starting the first page. But unless you’ve already been exposed to philosophy, you probably haven’t tried to describe what happens when you have a moral thought. This book is like instructions for how to throw a ball. We all know how to do it, but to really become good you have to think about what you are doing.

"So Matt, why is it important to be able to describe moral thinking," you ask me. I think it is important to understand what-is-ethics so that we do doing-ethics correctly. Just because we think lots of moral thoughts does not mean that we don’t think lots of irrational thoughts too. Maybe you’ve had the experience of thinking to yourself, "I know I shouldn’t be doing this, but I just can’t help myself." Before, this may have sounded fine. But now we have a better idea of what is going on when you do something "bad." You want to buy those cute shoes that you know were made in a sweatshop, but you know that afterwards you will feel some regret. And why will you feel regret? Because supporting sweatshop labor goes against some of the basic rules of behavior that govern your actions. Those basic rules get overwhelmed by passing urges. "Oh yeah," you think. "I guess I don’t want to support sweatshops, do I?" I hope by helping you realize just what moral thinking is, this book will help you make decisions you will be proud of. Ignorance is not bliss – ignorance of what-is-ethics only leads to regret.

At the same time, however, I don’t want you to leave thinking I have told you a bunch of facts. Philosophers have been talking about what-is-ethics for thousands of years! I happen to think that correct-ism sounds pretty good, but there are a lot of people out there who would disagree with me. Maybe you’re one of them. I hope that if you are, that you will keep reading and thinking. At least, I wish you will see why I think it is so important to understand what-is-ethics. Driving 90 miles per hour without knowing where you’re going is just dumb.

Also, we haven’t even started a discussion of doing-ethics. Should we give up our materialistic way of life that is destroying the earth, or hope that we will progress to a sustainable existence on the planet? Should we lock up children who commit horrible crimes? Should we go to war to stop ethnic rivalries? You will have the rest of your life to wrestle with these questions. I hope that this book will help you understand how to go about making these decisions.

So you see, Mom had a good reason to tell you not to steal or punch your brother. We need help to learn restraint. Otherwise, we will do whatever seems right at the moment, without thinking about the consequences. But maybe Mom and Dad should say more than just, "Because I said so!" There are good reasons for everything they tell you about right and wrong. Maybe a dose of what-is-ethical thinking will help you understand them a little better.

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