Towards a moral calculus

Notorious Atheist Sam Harris makes the case for applying scientific methods to questions of morality. So far as I can make out, his core arguments are:

1. human wellbeing is a meaningful, objective concept
2. if you pick any two responses to a particular moral dimension, you can in theory (if not in practice) scientifically assess which is going to lead to more human wellbeing.
3. we have a duty to maximise human wellbeing throughout the world
4. therefore we should challenge suboptimal choices in our own and in other societies
5. in particular, we should not abdicate the concept of morality to religion, but should consider it scientifically.

All good stuff and hard to argue. He illustrates his talk with side swipes at a number of practices which he considers religiously motivated. These are less convincing, but should not distract from his core message.

He implies that we can determine a single metric for human well-being which can be assessed. This is where I lose him. It seems to me that there are a number of dimensions to consider. We can generally agree on which of each of the following is better:

• freedom – slavery
• sickness – health
• life – death
• a life of passive acceptance – a life of meaningful contribution
• respect – contempt
• safety – danger
• scarcity – abundance
• construction – destruction
• pain – pleasure

We can probably resolve these into a limited number of independent dimensions. If there are is more than one dimension, then the best we can hope for from science is that it can show us how to get to the envelope where increasing one dimension requires a trade-off in another. At that point, any further change requires a value judgement as to which dimensions we consider most important. Science cannot help us with this.

It is also not as obvious as it may appear that any society is actually far from the envelope already. In any case, to assess this, we need to identify a robust set of rigorously defined set of dimensions of well-being and models showing how they are constrained. Then we can sensibly discuss individual cases and value judgements.

This is so obvious that it must have been done, or at least worked on, already. Presumably Mr Harris can point me in the right direction?

Total customer experience

From Nicholas Bate’s acclaimed “Instant MBA (52 Brilliant Ideas)” , now free on Kindle in the UK (which means that Nicholas sees this as outreach, not product. One of his basic principles is to sell on value, not price.):

“Here’s the bottom line. To pull ahead in what’s known as the New World of Work, you must give your customers a powerful and positive and enlivening experience, one which is so good that they want to return.”

That experience doesn’t end when they walk out of your door. Here’s a harrowing example of how easy it is to turn a positive experience into a negative disaster.

Another of Bate’s principles is that sometimes, you should fire some of your customers.

Writing…

Briem.Net’s sage advice:


(He has a practical and engaging alternative more suitable to our namby pamby times…)

And just in case you missed the reference to Rosemary’s hair and for some unaccountable reason are unfamiliar with Edison Lighthouse’s 1972 hit (also unaccountable):
Ah, they don’t write ‘em like that anymore. Let’s all be thankful for small mercies.

News from the cradle of democracy…

 

“I say, I say, I say, what’s that you have there?”

“A Greek urn”

“What’s a Greek urn?”

“Oh, about a hundred quid a day”

If only.

A nice economist came to talk to us the other day about the Euro crisis. Her thesis was that,in essence, the Greek economy produces almost nothing and imports almost everything. Furthermore, there is a conflict between the rich who tend not to pay taxes and the poor who therefore bear the brunt of any fiscal measures required. And the Germans have been bankrolling the whole system for reasons which make good profits for the bankers but little sense to the voters. She was very witty.

Not sure how well this went down in our Athens offices.

She made the point that most people know what needs to be done, but any government that tries to do it is likely to find itself out of office in short order. The technocrats who have been parachuted in to some countries have been doing a pretty good job, but will be turfed out before the job can be completed.

The real problem, in short, is democracy.

I’m not sure I can go along with this. Last time the world economy melted down, the nations of the developed world tended to turn away from democracy. That did not turn out well. And that is why the institutions of Europe are being set up. The challenge is to preserve democracy through the crisis. Even if it means that things need to get much worse before the people can accept what needs to be done.

The Storm Cone
1932

---

THIS is the midnight—let no star
Delude us—dawn is very far.
This is the tempest long foretold—
Slow to make head but sure to hold.

Stand by! The lull ’twixt blast and blast
Signals the storm is near, not past;
And worse than present jeopardy
May our forlorn to-morrow be.

If we have cleared the expectant reef,
Let no man look for his relief.
Only the darkness hides the shape
Of further peril to escape.

It is decreed that we abide
The weight of gale against the tide
And those huge waves the outer main
Sends in to set us back again.

They fall and whelm. We strain to hear
The pulses of her labouring gear,
Till the deep throb beneath us proves,
After each shudder and check, she moves!

She moves, with all save purpose lost,
To make her offing from the coast;
But, till she fetches open sea.
Let no man deem that he is free!

Pantalons de Nimes, anyone?

Hat raised to The Chap.
(And thanks, Nicholas)

Live Long and Prosper...

The always reliable Steve Wright was chatting to me this afternoon. My attention was temporarily diverted by the lovely dental hygienist to whom I attend all too infrequently. Returning my thoughts, sadder but wiser, to the Sage, I thought I heard him mention that eccentrics live longer and are happier than conformists.

Applying myself to Google upon my return, I find that not only is this a Published Fact, but it has been known for many years. Why was I not told? They probably felt it would only encourage me.

Of course, every true born Englishman considers himself, his deep down true self, to be eccentric. For example, I sometimes do up my tie with a single Windsor: I'm a bit mad, me! (And I know ten ways to work a to-do list.)

Anyway I thought ZebrasOfColor would approve. I do hope they don't mind my spreading their lovely pic.