Inroduction

This post consists of discussion questions for 5 books highlighted by a retired philosophy and EA researcher James Aitchison. These books are 1) The Better Angels of our Nature: A History of Violence and Humanity (Steven Pinker), 2) Moral Tribes: Emotion, Reason and the Gap Between Us and Them (Joshua Greene), 3) The Big Picture: On the Origins of Life, Meaning and the Universe Itself (Sean Carroll), 4) Being You: A New Science of Consciousness (Anil Seth), and 5) Happiness: Lessons From a New Science (Richard Layard).

These texts can improve readers’ understanding of happiness determinants, violence causes, and meaning in the universe. This knowledge can inform and critique happiness-maximization decisionmaking, considering systems on Earth and beyond. This can be valuable in the EA cause areas where happiness is maximized and intergalactic/interstellar expansion considered.

These books can appeal to the audience of experienced professionals. These professionals may have perspectives that enrich EA thinking and possess unique capacities, such as authority over institutions, which may bottleneck some EA projects. Thus, attracting experienced professionals into EA can be highly valuable.

The questions are listed by chapter. I tried to emphasize thinking which relates to global problem solving, while including some questions that can be also valuable to readers, cover key concepts and terms, and deflect from any ‘motivation to philanthropy’ interpretation in rare parts of the texts. I did not extensively contemplate the questions or discuss them with others.

I would most appreciate feedback on whether, how, and by whom these books should be discussed. Also, pointing out questions that can be perceived as really great or disvaluable can be helpful.

Discussion Questions

Steven Pinker. The Better Angels of our Nature: A History of Violence and Humanity. (2011)

Preface

• Which of the “six trends, five inner demons, four better angels, and five historical forces” do you see around you? How can it be different elsewhere?

Chapter 1

• How do you feel reading about the millennia-old people? If your feelings are different, why can it be so? Should it be so?
• What do you think of human sacrifice to Gods? How can this be perceived by different stakeholders, considering the norms of the time and place?
• How do you reason about (dis)approving games in the Colosseum and the Roman execution? Considering their instrumental value, should these be perceived positively or negatively?
• What feelings about some of the summarized tales do you have? How does this resonate or dissonate with your reason?
• How would you define honor?
• What is the meaning of “rape” in the “It Depends on What You Pay” show tune? What is the author trying to achieve by using this word?

Chapter 2

• What are some examples of strategic violence (and its absence) in nature? How does this relate to genetic evolution?
• What is the historical value of raids? How can the use of unnecessary violence alter their outcomes?
• What do numbers about warfare death rate and homicide rate tell us about the violence of a culture? What can they omit? Of the times and places on the graph, where would you most like to live? What places would you most like visiting? Why?
• What is the sign of the value of coercing peace?

Chapter 3

• What attitude did medieval rulers have toward their and others’ peasants? Why?
• How did manners advice seek to civilize people? What could have been the intended (and unintended) outcomes?
• What are the motivations of traders? How do these differ from those of fisherfolk?
• How did the attitude of violence within and outside of aristocracy develop over the past millennium?
• How do homicide rates around the world relate to the freedom of expression in the countries? How can homicide rates differ among socio-economic strata? How would you go about finding this information?
• How does marriage influence crime rate? Should criminals get married?
• How does the homicide rate correlate with other factors? Which directions is the causality?

Chapter 4

• How does judicial torture, capital punishment, scientific progress, literacy, and the efficiency of book production relate to the prevalence of violence?

Chapter 5

• What are the factors that actually influence war deaths?
• Does better technology increase or decrease the destructiveness of war? What does this depend on?
• How does the number and destructiveness of wars develop over time? Can there be some missing or biased data?
• What do you think of the proposition that “the moral evil in war outweighs the moral good, although the latter is conspicuous?”
• “Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defenses of peace must be constructed.” How is this done, in practice? Can these processes be further improved?
• What historical trends suggest that violence will decrease? What conflict trends are likely to occur in the future?
• How does democracy influence and is influenced by peace and conflict? What are the violence effects of democratic on non-democratic states?
• What do you think of the “Make money, not war” solution? Is there any better one?

Chapter 6

• How do civil conflicts compare to colonial, interstate, and internationalized civil conflicts? How should resources be distributed to minimize the negative effects of conflicts?
• Where do conflicts currently occur? Would relocation of populations reduce these conflicts or their effects or move the conflict’s place?
• What is the role of peacekeepers in securing local and global peace? What are the different types of peacekeepers?
• “‘People speak sometimes about the ‘animal’ cruelty of man, but that is terribly unjust and offensive to animals. No animal could ever be so cruel as a man, so artfully, so artistically cruel. A tiger simply gnaws and tears, that is all he can do. It would never occur to him to nail people by their ears overnight, even if he were able to do it.’” Chapter 3 discussed ‘civilizing’ manners. How does human civilization, net of people’s abilities to be violent, influence conflict resolution?
• How does disgust and violence relate?
• What role does violence play in areas with ongoing conflict?
• How does fear influence and is influenced by violence? What is a better model?

Chapter 7

• How have the rights of different groups been developing? How could the perception of the parties subject to violence been developing? Where is the causality in decreased violence and increased rights?
• How does this chapter make you feel? What could have been written to make you feel the opposite way?

Chapter 8

• How can biases relating narratives of potentially harmful events be mitigated?
• What do the parts of the brain involved in aggression have in common?
• What is the relationship between predation and violence?
• What do dominance, revenge, and sadism have in common?
• How can ideology increase violence?

Chapter 9

• How does empathy relate to violence? Are violent people little empathetic?
• How did self-control arise over time? How can this influence positive and negative emotions?
• What aggression-related traits have been genetically selected over the past 10,000 years?
• How can morality influence human actions, considering other factors?
• How does reasoning about the world influence human actions, considering actors’ various motivations?
• How intelligent were the peasants in the Cole and Luria’s interviews? Why did they disengage with the offered ways of reasoning? How ‘rich’ and ‘poor’ could be the peasants’ life?
• How is intelligence shown to affect violence? What can be some counterarguments?

Chapter 10

• How do the different forces influence the Prisoner’s Dilemma scenario?
• Which of these forces should be supported with marginal resources?

Entire book

• What causes violence? How can it be prevented? What should be prioritized in this pursuit? Would this be sustainable in the (very) long term?

Joshua Greene. Moral Tribes: Emotion, Reason and the Gap Between Us and Them (2013)

Introduction

• How are the tribes on the new pastures similar and different? What is tragic about it?
• What is different in homo sapiens sapiens’ society today and throughout the species’ existence?

Chapter 1

• What is the Tragedy of the Commons? How can it be averted?
• For you, who is Me, Us, and Them? How can this be for an individual among Us and among Them? What are the implications of this categorization? Are there any societies in which the prioritization is different?
• How could today’s metamorality look like?

Chapter 2

• How does the Prisoner’s Dilemma relate to morality?
• Why could ants be motivated to benefit their families?
• What can be the relationship between reciprocity and friendship?
• How could feeling bad for others evolve? What purpose does it serve?
• How does fear and desire relate to moral decisionmaking?
• How does supervision affect morality?
• How do six-month-old children perceive morality?
• Is tribalism natural or due to nurture? Can you find counterarguments?
• How is our moral reasoning about stories different from that about actual situations? How can the line be blurred? What does this imply about moral storytelling practices?
• What is necessary for morality to apply in a society?

Chapter 3

• Why would different moral cooperative tribes refrain from cooperating?
• How can biases influence people’s cooperative actions and moral values?
• How should reasoning relate to empathy in moral decisionmaking?

Chapter 4

• When can a sacrifice for the greater good be morally justified? How can this reasoning be biased? How is bias defined in this case?

Chapter 5

• How can intuition influence moral decisionmaking? Can this be different among species?

Chapter 6

• How does what people want relate to what works best?
• How can happiness be measured? Should it?

Chapter 7

• How can moral truth be described?

Chapter 8

• How does moral reasoning and decisionmaking relate?

Chapter 9

• What do the trolley problems suggest about different considerations in moral reasoning?

Chapter 10

• How would you define fairness in a moral way?

Chapter 11

• When should pragmatism be used in and instead of moral reasoning?

Chapter 12

• Which of these rules are already well-applied in your area? Which ones can be applied better? What would have to happen to facilitate that?

Entire book

• What is moral? How can morality be improved in the world? Which areas should be prioritized? What are the risks associated with improving morality? How can these be mitigated?

Sean Carroll. The Big Picture: On the Origins of Life, Meaning and the Universe Itself (2016)

Part One

• (Prologue) What do you think is the author’s interpretation of niceness?
• (Chapter 1) How are individuals distinct?
• (Chapter 2) How should we talk about the world? How should others?
• Can we describe causes of actions?
• What matters have inertia?
• What caused the Big Bang?
• What matters, in the cosmos?
• How does order arise?
• What is the definition of a hypothesis?

Part Two

• Is there anything you have the credence of 50% about?
• How could you alter your credence?
• What credence do you have in (a particular field of) science?
• Is air smooth? What concepts introduced in this book are you applying?
• Is air real?
• Could you sketch what happens if you have a belief inconsistent with your other ones?
• How do you know if you are on a stable planet or stable near a black hole?
• Can you know the truth without observing it?
• If you could choose your identity, who would you be, at this point?
• What take on theism could you be comforted by? Is this the reality?

Part Three

• What percentage of principles has been described, so far?
• Is our knowledge more accurate when we can access observations?
• Where does your wave function extend?
• What is the relationship between elementary particles and fields?
• Should we research particles that do not have any noticeable effect on anything?
• Why is the Core Theory effective?
• What is a wrong explanation for the existence of the Universe?
• Are you more in the substance or property dualism camp?
• How are the forces intrinsic to quantum fields described?

Part Four

• What is entropy that always increases?
• What is the Earth’s influence on work done in the universe?
• How does human metabolism influence entropy?
• How does oil in different environments resemble reasoning?
• Is it natural to become more random over time?
• How does DNA evolve?
• Did evolution go optimally?
• What is the purpose of wanting to obtain information?
• Are there other conditions suitable to similar and different forms of life? Where?

Part Five

• How does ‘fast’ and ‘slow’ thinking relate to consciousness?
• How do neural systems, roughly, work?
• How do robots learn from human thinking?
• Can Mary’s entire experience be purely physical?
• How do we differentiate zombies from identically behaving non-zombies?
• What is your take on the Hard Problem?
• What are the possible reasons for one’s scratching?
• What patients can be thought of as having no free will?

Part Six

• What does the Core Theory say about instances of desire?
• Should we allow people to live happier and longer lives? What definitions and assumptions are used? What alternative conclusion could follow from the first two preceding statements?
• What do you think of the categorical imperative?
• How could you combine wellbeing of different individuals to get a single number?
• Which of the Ten Considerations can be the most valuable and disvaluable to you?
• What is intelligible about theism?

Entire book

• What did you realize that you could think and currently think in a particular way about?
• What interesting concepts did you learn?
• What ideas that you gained would you like to share?
• Of the theories described, which one(s) seem(s) the most plausible to you?
• Should quantum mechanics be studied further? What research questions should be prioritized?

Anil Seth. Being You: A New Science of Consciousness (2021)

Chapter 1

• How does phenomenology, qualia, and metacognition relate?
• What is the relationship among physicalism, materialism, and idealism, dualism, and functionalism? What other two ways of understanding consciousness introduced in this chapter are missing?
• Does DeepMind play Go?
• What are the three properties of being oneself, according to the author?
• Can one experience self-consciousness without consciousness and vice versa?

Chapter 2

• What measures of neural complexity exist? How are these used in measuring consciousness?
• What mechanisms, do you think, underlie consciousness?

Chapter 3

• What does Φ measure?
• What is the relationship between information and consciousness?

Chapter 4

• Is there a way of knowing how things are?
• How would the brain process different illustrations of a horse?

Chapter 5

• What type(s) of reasoning (inductive, deductive, abductive) do you use when reading this book?
• Can you think of ways in which the brain can be tricked about seeing Gorillas?
• Where does one’s brain extend?

Chapter 6

• How is a hallucinative drug-influenced brain different from an uninfluenced one?
• How does the brain go about interpreting unfamiliar virtual objects? What does this imply for virtual and augmented reality?

Chapter 7

• How do people change in delirium? Can you think of some less extreme cases that you encountered?

Chapter 8

• How does one perceive self? How can this perception be altered?

Chapter 9

• How things exist without their conscious interpretations?
• What is the author’s understanding of the ‘soul?

Chapter 10

• How does the brain go about thinking about free will? Where is it wrong?

Chapter 11

• How do one’s perceptions of and actual alternatives influence their perception of and actual free will?
• How can a species’ member’s extent of free will be estimated?

Chapter 12

• Between anthropomorphism and anthropocentrism, which one is better for a fair approach toward other species in different situations?
• How is our thinking similar to that of octopuses?
• What is a ‘meaningful conscious status?’
• Would conscious machines be conscious?

Chapter 13

• What is sufficient for a system to be conscious?
• Why would one fear a geminoid? What can change the level of this fear?
• How do you feel about the different unreal people? Can you identify any parallels in the current world?
• What would you recommend that your peers in Prague focus on when seeking to identify conscious machines?

Entire book

• How important is consciousness? Are there any easy ways to alter it? Could then any ‘fake’ world arise or is this not a concern?
• What research questions can further elucidate how consciousness arises?
• What are some safe ways to inspire empathy?
• Should legislation include more freely acting species?

Richard Layard. Happiness: Lessons From a New Science. (2005, 2011)

Chapter 1

• What makes one happy?
• Who wins the status game? What are some better alternatives?
• What desires is striving for wealth an instrument for?

Chapter 2

• How would you interpret the respondents’ quantitative answer summaries? How could the various respondents interpret these answers?
• What are the two dimensions of feeling? Place three instances that you recently experienced (e. g. taking a test, commuting, …) on this matrix.
• When is happiness bad?
• Could any causations be described erroneously? How could you know?

Chapter 3

• How happy are ‘very happy’ people? What subjective experiences do they have?
• How does crime, economic prosperity, and happiness relate?

Chapter 4

• How much real income does one need?
• How much leisure does one prefer?
• What is exempted from the Hedonistic Treadmill? Can this be different in different cultures?
• Is there happiness in relativist thinking?

Chapter 5

• What actually influences one’s happiness?
• What should be our goals?
• How are our actions inconsistent with our possible goals?
• Would we be happier if we achieve some of our goals?
• Why are we pursuing actions inconsistent with some of our goals?
• What would this thinking imply about individuals who do not pursue their goals at work?

Chapter 6

• How does the TV influence our behavior?
• How do our values influence happiness?

Chapter 7

• What do you do if you and your friend see a bear in the woods? Which of the concepts introduced in this chapter are you employing in your reasoning?
• How does friendship relate to the concepts covered by this chapter? How do different types of friendship affect happiness?

Chapter 8

• Should we measure the quality of life based on how people feel? What situations otherwise unjustified newly would and vice versa?
• How would you weigh the happiness of different people?
• What effects can rules have on happiness?

Chapter 9

• What economic research could be valuable in influencing happiness?

Chapter 10

• What policies that could increase happiness could be relatively facile to test? Which ones could be realistically adopted? Where is the intersection?

Chapter 11

• How does being wanted, health, and happiness relate?

Chapter 12

• Can one consciously alter their mood? Can this be only possible for some species?

Chapter 13

• Would you be interested in fact-checking some of the statistics and claims?
• How have psychiatric drugs developed?

Chapter 14

• How can we increase happiness? Should we?

Entire book

• What ideas introduced in this book should be better known? How can you make them well-popular among the target audience(s)?
• What academic disciplines relate to the study of happiness?
• What approaches to happiness increase should be prioritized? Which ones should be avoided? How can this be supported?
• Who is responsible for one’s happiness?