L. Rudolph L
👤 SpeakerAppearances Over Time
Podcast Appearances
What happens when small groups of smart people convince themselves they have discovered truth so important that normal constraints no longer apply?
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Stavroginism.
The human orthogonality thesis.
Stavrogin is a character for who moral considerations have become a parlor game.
He can analyze everything and follow the threads of moral logic, but is not moved or compelled by them at a level beyond curiosity.
The Stavrogin type can contemplate human extinction as calmly as they contemplate next quarter's revenue projections.
This is not because they have thought more deeply about the question.
It is because they lack the normal human response to existential horror.
Their equanimity is not wisdom.
It is damage.
They have looked at the abyss so long that they no longer see it.
Their equanimity is not strength.
It is the absence of appropriate emotional response.
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Kirillovan reasoning.
Reasoning to suicide.
Closely related is Keilorv.
Whereas Stavrogin is the detached curious observer to long chains of off-the-rails moral reasoning, Kiyilov is the true believer.
Yudkowsky has a useful concept he calls the bottom line, the idea that in any motivated reasoning process, the conclusion is written first and the arguments are found afterward.