3 ms·

The platinum rule is generally better. See proc0's reply below. The golden rule is...somewhat narcissistic.

• dr_dshiv 3y ago
  In the absence of their ability to consent either way, it’s unclear how to give them what they want. How to, for instance, infer that they don’t want more cognitive power. Octopi have unusually high cognitive powers already—arguably that would suggest an implicit desire?
  • rhtgrg 3y ago
    In this case consent, should it be possible, would also be a questionable approach. See: the vampire problem. The trouble is, in this situation, how could you possibly make an informed choice? For, after all, you cannot know what it is like to be a vampire until you are one. And if you can’t know what it’s like to be a vampire without becoming one, you can’t compare the character of the lived experience of what it is like to be you, right now, a mere human, to the character of the lived experience of what it would be like to be a vampire. This means that, if you want to make this choice by considering what you want your lived experience to be like in the future, you can’t do it rationally. At least, you can’t do it by weighing the competing options concerning what it would be like and choosing on this basis. And it seems awfully suspect to rely solely on the testimony of your vampire friends to make your choice, because, after all, they aren’t human any more, so their preferences are the ones vampires have, not the ones humans have. -- L.A. Paul