The Nonlinear Library EA - My favorite articles by Brian Tomasik and what they are about by Timothy Chan
Feb 25, 2024
07:22
Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: My favorite articles by Brian Tomasik and what they are about, published by Timothy Chan on February 25, 2024 on The Effective Altruism Forum.
Cross-posted from my website.
Introduction
Brian Tomasik has written a lot of
essays on reducing suffering. In this post, I've picked out my favorites. If you're thinking about reading his work, this list could be a good place to start. Note that this is based on what I personally find interesting; it is not a definitive guide. These are listed in no particular order.
Dissolving Confusion about Consciousness
Consciousness is a "cluster in thingspace" comprising physical systems that we consider to be similar in some way. It is a label for systems, not an essence within systems. Also, like defining "tables", defining "consciousness" may be similarly arbitrary and fuzzy.
The Eliminativist Approach to Consciousness
Instead of thinking in terms of "conscious" and "unconscious" we should directly focus on how physical systems work. Aspects of systems are not merely indicators of pain, but are part of the cluster of things that we call "pain" (attribute the label "pain").
Tomasik also draws parallels between eliminativism and panpsychism and highlights that there is a shared implication of both theories that there is no clear separation of consciousness with physical reality, which may further suggest that we should put more weight to ideas that less complex systems can suffer.
How to Interpret a Physical System as a Mind
Uses the concept of a "sentience classifier" to describe how we might interpret physical systems as minds. Distinct theories offer different approaches to building the classifier. Classification then involves "identifying the traits of the physical system in question" (taking in the data and searching for relevant features) as a first step and "mapping from those traits to high-level emotions and valences" (labeling the data) as a second step.
Our brains might already be vaguely implementing the sentience classifier - albeit with more messiness, complexity, and components and processes particular to the brain.
The Many Fallacies of Dualism
This article touches on a common theme underlying Tomasik's approach to topics like consciousness, free will, moral (anti)realism, and mathematical (anti)realism: rejecting dualism in favor of a simpler physicalist monism.
The Importance of Wild Animal Suffering
A good introduction to the topic. Discusses the extensive suffering experienced by wild animals due to natural causes like disease, predation, and environmental hardships, which may outweigh moments of happiness. Vast numbers and short, brutal lives of wild animals make their suffering a significant ethical issue.
Why Vegans Should Care about Suffering in Nature
A shorter introduction to the topic.
The Horror of Suffering
A vivid reflection on the horror of suffering. Suffering is not merely an abstract concept but a dire reality that demands urgent moral attention. There is a long history of intuitions that prioritize the reduction of suffering.
One Trillion Fish
Short piece on the direct harms caused by large-scale fishing (though note that when taking into account population changes and wild-animal suffering, the sign of this is less clear). Suggests humane slaughter of fish as an intervention that side-steps the uncertainty of net impact of fishing on wild-animal suffering.
How Does Vegetarianism Impact Wild-Animal Suffering?
Note that there are likely more comprehensive analyses now. That animal suffering is increased in some ways because of a vegetarian/vegan diet is counterintuitive but important to recognize. You might still want to be vegetarian/vegan and not eat meat as it might help with becoming more motivated to reduce suffering.
How Rainforest Beef Production Affects Wild-Animal Suffering
Creating cattle pas...
Cross-posted from my website.
Introduction
Brian Tomasik has written a lot of
essays on reducing suffering. In this post, I've picked out my favorites. If you're thinking about reading his work, this list could be a good place to start. Note that this is based on what I personally find interesting; it is not a definitive guide. These are listed in no particular order.
Dissolving Confusion about Consciousness
Consciousness is a "cluster in thingspace" comprising physical systems that we consider to be similar in some way. It is a label for systems, not an essence within systems. Also, like defining "tables", defining "consciousness" may be similarly arbitrary and fuzzy.
The Eliminativist Approach to Consciousness
Instead of thinking in terms of "conscious" and "unconscious" we should directly focus on how physical systems work. Aspects of systems are not merely indicators of pain, but are part of the cluster of things that we call "pain" (attribute the label "pain").
Tomasik also draws parallels between eliminativism and panpsychism and highlights that there is a shared implication of both theories that there is no clear separation of consciousness with physical reality, which may further suggest that we should put more weight to ideas that less complex systems can suffer.
How to Interpret a Physical System as a Mind
Uses the concept of a "sentience classifier" to describe how we might interpret physical systems as minds. Distinct theories offer different approaches to building the classifier. Classification then involves "identifying the traits of the physical system in question" (taking in the data and searching for relevant features) as a first step and "mapping from those traits to high-level emotions and valences" (labeling the data) as a second step.
Our brains might already be vaguely implementing the sentience classifier - albeit with more messiness, complexity, and components and processes particular to the brain.
The Many Fallacies of Dualism
This article touches on a common theme underlying Tomasik's approach to topics like consciousness, free will, moral (anti)realism, and mathematical (anti)realism: rejecting dualism in favor of a simpler physicalist monism.
The Importance of Wild Animal Suffering
A good introduction to the topic. Discusses the extensive suffering experienced by wild animals due to natural causes like disease, predation, and environmental hardships, which may outweigh moments of happiness. Vast numbers and short, brutal lives of wild animals make their suffering a significant ethical issue.
Why Vegans Should Care about Suffering in Nature
A shorter introduction to the topic.
The Horror of Suffering
A vivid reflection on the horror of suffering. Suffering is not merely an abstract concept but a dire reality that demands urgent moral attention. There is a long history of intuitions that prioritize the reduction of suffering.
One Trillion Fish
Short piece on the direct harms caused by large-scale fishing (though note that when taking into account population changes and wild-animal suffering, the sign of this is less clear). Suggests humane slaughter of fish as an intervention that side-steps the uncertainty of net impact of fishing on wild-animal suffering.
How Does Vegetarianism Impact Wild-Animal Suffering?
Note that there are likely more comprehensive analyses now. That animal suffering is increased in some ways because of a vegetarian/vegan diet is counterintuitive but important to recognize. You might still want to be vegetarian/vegan and not eat meat as it might help with becoming more motivated to reduce suffering.
How Rainforest Beef Production Affects Wild-Animal Suffering
Creating cattle pas...