On: Philosophy, Progress and Wisdom
Episode: N/A
Date: June 22, 2020
Background: Philosopher and author.
Key Subjects:
- Progress.
- In science.
- Mechanism: seeking consensus truths (“tying up loose ends”).
- Finite search: once truths are established (and not challenged), the search ends (the subject is “finished”).
- In philosophy.
- Mechanism: no consensus building mechanisms.
- Infinite search: no established truths, search continues (and widens).
- In individual humans (virtue) or society.
- Some positives: establishment of ethical frameworks such as universal human rights.
- Some negatives: bad applications of principles such as utilitarianism.
- Progress occurs when properties evolve and emerge that make doing the right thing for the group (societal good) the right thing for the individual (self-interest).
- Certain properties require certain empirical conditions to emerge and get themselves fully appreciated.
- In science.
- Virtue.
- Becoming accustomed or habituated to things that aren’t your narrow self-interest.
- You come to feel that they make you better off.
- They give you pleasure or they make you feel good about yourself.
- Finding the right decision making tool or principle.
- Terrible consequences are simply the sign that we pick the wrong principle or an insufficiently complex principle.
- Solving complex problems: solvable, but no common, consensus solution.
- Just because a problem is solvable doesn’t mean it can be solved by someone other than you.
- You have to do the work yourself.
- Unlike science, you can’t delegate and let others do the thinking.
- Requires individual trial and error.
- Creates a lot uncertainty.
- For solving complex problems, difficult to trust anyone but yourself.
- [See also “EconTalk — Yuval Levin”” and “EconTalk – Martin Gurri” on increasing individualism, loss of trust in experts and institutions, etc.]
- Solving complex problems: you still need the ancients, institutions, social input.
- We can’t do it all on our own [the limits of experiential learning].
- Build on the things that emerge from human action, not human design [leverage social learning].
- One mind can’t see around its own biases, prejudices and assumptions.
- Even if you try to mitigate blind-spots, you are still governed by the same biases and assumptions.
- You need others to ask the questions you are not asking.
- As you test their questions and answers, you learn.
- Universities.
- Help you figure out what you like and you are good at and prepare for what’s next.
- Intellectual, career, social.
- Conversation is the way we learn: interacting with ideas and people.
- Philosophy, science and religion all involve a faith in some type of order that reduces uncertainty.
- Everyone believes in something.
- Science: faith that there are known or to be known universal laws.
- Religion: faith in God, heaven, hell, etc. through images and myths and stories.
- Philosophy: faith in rational ideas.
- Emergent social properties (such as norms), once established, feedback into social groups and influence individual behavior (virtue).
- As people adopt emerging social norms, they are labeled differently in religion and philosophy.
- Religion: for instance, the concept of original sin, what you’re not supposed to do.
- Philosophy: replaces original sin with more rational, social, cultural conscience.
- Requires homogeneous community.
- Some of the most valuable things in the world are books, and music, and paintings, and ideas.
Some Additional Thoughts
- Unlikely that human nature itself has materially changed or progressed.
- If there is progress, it’s a delicate progress at the level of social groups.
- As individual humans interact in social groups that are sufficiently large and homogeneous, positive social properties may emerge.
- Justice, norms, rights, institutions, culture.
- These emerging properties over time feedback into the social group and affect individual behavior.
- Influence individual decision making.
- Allow for social learning
- If social groups are sufficiently durable, over time complexity increases.
- Social learning allows for cultural evolution.
- If social groups lose their cohesion, emergent properties lose their relevance.
- Abuse by one part of the group to exploit another.
- As differences widen, further loss of cohesion.
- What is good on average is no longer good for the whole.
- Utilitarian principles are not as useful any more.
- An “above zero” decision outcome is no longer a useful indicator of societal well-being if some groups are consistently left out.