Originally posted by DeepThought
What if the cowardice caused others harm? If I failed to act and take on a risk I'd have to live with the consequences of that so that in the end risking my own life might be the easier choice.

When someone needs help I usually jump in, not thinking of anything. I don't do the coward:hero calculus.

That could get me in trouble in some circumstances. I once came across a semi truck wreck in Canada when i and my family were on vacation. The place was full of people just staring at the truck. I noticed fuel dripping down from the fuel tank and then saw a guy buried inside the cab with the passenger seat pinning him in place bent like a pretzel. I didn't even think, just climbed up the side of the truck and beat out the windshield from the inside and pulled the seat off the guy and he was able to climb out the window. I saw he was ok, just shook up and we just left before the police got there. That action may have saved his life but in retrospect it was a dangerous thing for me to have done, I could have been on the truck and if it had caught fire....None of that went through my mind, I had to act and did while the crowd around the truck was just staring with their thumbs up their collective ass.

An event happened just yesterday at work, there was a fire alarm and everyone was exiting and one of them said there is smoke. Again, I didn't even think of consequences, I ran as fast as I could to the trouble spot not knowing what to expect. As it turned out it was just a dust cloud given off by a guy using a vacuum cleaner, a shop vac, that didn't have a filter inside and the room he was cleaning had a smoke detector and the dust set it off. Fire department came by and we showed them it was a false alarm but I didn't know that when I started running to the possible flames. i just knew my buddy was there in that room.

I guess in retrospect it was kind of dumb for me to have reacted that way but something inside me short circuits my brain in cases like that.

Originally posted by sonhouse
When someone needs help I usually jump in, not thinking of anything. I don't do the coward:hero calculus.

That could get me in trouble in some circumstances. I once came across a semi truck wreck in Canada when i and my family were on vacation. The place was full of people just staring at the truck. I noticed fuel dripping down from the fuel tank and th ...[text shortened]... me to have reacted that way but something inside me short circuits my brain in cases like that.

I think we all have a bit of cowardice/hero in us. Depends on the circumstances.

In my opinion selfishness is an expression of cowardice.

Originally posted by BigDoggProblem
Since people love references to the Matrix movie so much [I don't exempt myself] - consider this.

A world in which some sort of environmental catastrophe has taken hold - and most humans have died. Industrial infrastructure has crumbled due to lack of people to maintain it. Those few that remain can only eke out a miserable existence where survival ...[text shortened]... d would that person care that their willful ignorance of reality was an 'impoverished' attitude?

I think the choice to live in a Matrix-like simulation would always be an impoverished one, with respect to our epistemic ends and with respect to authenticity of the content of one's life. That is not to say that the choice could not be justified on other grounds, such as the recommendations of virtues like compassion. It would depend on the finer-grained details, and I think your hypothetical is probably underdescribed in this respect. However, yes I think a general class of special cases could be ones where UA basically entails irreformable suffering for S and/or others outside of some Matrix-like simulation.

Originally posted by josephw
[b]".., our mental attitudes are not somehow wholly separate from reality but also intimately entangled up with it."

Well, don't just leave it hanging there! 😉

I believe "reality" exists independent of our attitudes as a constant. Reality doesn't change no matter what we may think of it. On the other hand, reality shapes who we are and how we thin ...[text shortened]... Brooklyn bridge dirt cheap.

That isn't to say we have no say in what one can do with reality.[/b]

Well, don't just leave it hanging there! 😉

I don't think I did. Did you read the rest of the post?

Originally posted by LemonJello
I think the choice to live in a Matrix-like simulation would always be an impoverished one,....

I am unconvinced. Given the popularity of books (fiction), movies and computer games, I think many people are more than happy to live in a Matrix-like simulation for at least a little while. I see no good reason why many of them would choose not to do so permanently given the opportunity. If the simulation was particularly good, I would certainly consider it.

Originally posted by twhitehead
I am unconvinced. Given the popularity of books (fiction), movies and computer games, I think many people are more than happy to live in a Matrix-like simulation for at least a little while. I see no good reason why many of them would choose not to do so permanently given the opportunity. If the simulation was particularly good, I would certainly consider it.

🙄

You're unconvinced that "the choice to live in a Matrix-like simulation would always be an impoverished one"? Gee, me too. That's why I didn't make that claim. I made the claim that the choice to live in a Matrix-like simulation would always be an impoverished one with respect to our epistemic ends and with respect to authenticity of the content of one's life. And then I went on to imply that I think it could be justified on other grounds.