Sam Harris sums up morality in eight tweets

Sam Harris did a nice job of encapsulating what morality is all about, from a broad perspective, in these eight Twitter tweets:

Getting from “Is” to “Ought”
1/ Let’s assume that there are no ought’s or should’s in this universe. There is only what *is*—the totality of actual (and possible) facts.

2/ Among the myriad things that exist are conscious minds, susceptible to a vast range of actual (and possible) experiences.

3/ Unfortunately, many experiences suck. And they don’t just suck as a matter of cultural convention or personal bias—they really and truly suck. (If you doubt this, place your hand on a hot stove and report back.)

4/ Conscious minds are natural phenomena. Consequently, if we were to learn everything there is to know about physics, chemistry, biology, psychology, economics, etc., we would know everything there is to know about making our corner of the universe suck less.

 

5/ If we *should* to do anything in this life, we should avoid what really and truly sucks. (If you consider this question-begging, consult your stove, as above.)

 

6/ Of course, we can be confused or mistaken about experience. Something can suck for a while, only to reveal new experiences which don’t suck at all. On these occasions we say, “At first that sucked, but it was worth it!”

 

7/ We can also be selfish and shortsighted. Many solutions to our problems are zero-sum (my gain will be your loss). But *better* solutions aren’t. (By what measure of “better”? Fewer things suck.)

 

8/ So what is morality? What *ought* sentient beings like ourselves do? Understand how the world works (facts), so that we can avoid what sucks (values).

 

 

Comments

[vinny]

But facts keep changing, now " unified field of consciousness " is a proven fact validating vedanta & sant-mat. Now if anyone says he didn't follow the code of saints / yogis / ascetics because it sucked is a fool because now its a proven fact. Those who followed the code by faith are now enjoying samadhi / trance along-with its scientific proof.

[Spencer Tepper]

Hi Brian
From your Sam Harris quotes

"5/ If we *should* to do anything in this life, we should avoid what really and truly sucks. (If you consider this question-begging, consult your stove, as above.)...

8/ So what is morality? What *ought* sentient beings like ourselves do? Understand how the world works (facts), so that we can avoid what sucks (values)."

Life is far more than just avoiding stuff we decide defines" sucks".

How disappointing.

We are capable of far more.

We can conceive of new things that never were before. We can create. We can explore, we can discover, and most of that involves some suckiness, at least some hard work.

None of it involves running away, avoiding life itself.

Don't make avoiding pain your goal. Eliminate a lot of sucking stuff, by going through the pain of discovering and creating, collaborating, building and implementing very cool stuff.

As for avoiding, all animals already do that. Sam's notion that we have consciousness so we can avoid more sucky stuff lowers the bar on what it means to be human just about as far as it can go... Scraping the bottom of the barrel.

Nice work Sam.

[Arjuna]

Life does suck - but grab by the bollocks - as no one is coming to help.

[Ron Krumpos]

My favorite bumper sticker:
"Buckle up! Because shit happens."

"shoulda coulda woulda" If only we had known...