Suffering is generally bad – Peter Singer (who is a Hedonistic Utilitarian), and most Effective Altruists would agree with this. Though in addressing the need for suffering today Peter acknowledges that, as we are presently constituted, suffering is useful as a warning sign (e.g. against further injury). But what about the future? What if we…
Moral philosophers Peter Singer & David Pearce discuss some of the long term issues with various forms of utilitarianism, the future of predation and utilitronium shockwaves. Topics Covered – long term impacts of various forms of utilitarianism – Consciousness – Artificial Intelligence – Reducing suffering in the long run and in the short term –…
A group of interested AI enthusiasts have been discussing Engineering Machine Consciousness in Melbourne for over a decade. In a recent interview with Jamais Cascio on Engineering Happy People & Global Catastrophic Risks, we discussed the benefits of amplifying empathy without the nasty side effects (possibly through cultural progress or technological intervention – a form…
Transcript of interview with Peter Singer on ‘The Life You Can Save‘: I’ve been writing & thinking about the question of global poverty and what affluent people ought to do about it for more than four years now. The first article I published on that ‘Famine Affluence & Morality’ came out in 1972. But I’d…
Rationality & Moral Judgement – A view from Moral Psychology. Talk given at EA Global Melbourne 2015. Slides here. What have we learned from an empirical approach to moral psychology – especially in relation to the role of rationality in most every day morality? What are some lessons that the EA movement can take from…
Panelists ([from left to right] Hilary Greaves, Peter Singer, Justin Oakley & David Pearce) discuss what they believe are important philosophical aspects of the Effective Altruism movement – from practical philosophy we can use today to possible endpoints implied by various frameworks in applied ethics. The panelists navigate through a wide range of fascinating and…
Filmed at EA Global Melbourne 2015 Slides of talk are here Kerry Vaughan discusses: What is effective altruism? what is it’s history? what isn’t EA? and how to succeed at being an effective altruist. Approaches to doing good include: – Being Skeptical – using the case study of play pumps in africa – hoping to…
Peter Singer discusses Effective Altruism, including Utilitarianism as a branch of Ethics. Talk was held as a joint event between the University of Melbourne Secular Society and Melbourne University Philosophy Community. Is philosophy, as a grounds to help decide how good an action is, something you spend time thinking about? Audio of Peter’s talk can…
