Richard Y. Chappell is a moral philosopher and Associate Professor at the University of Miami. He works on effective altruism, utilitarianism, moral realism, digital minds, and the ethics of the far future. He co-authored An Introduction to Utilitarianism and writes at the blog Good Thoughts, follow Richard on Twitter
We talk about doing good effectively, moral truth, AI consciousness, and why compassion needs reason. Topics and ideas are outlined in the timestamps below.
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Timestamps
0:00 – Intro
0:24 – What is effective altruism?
4:08 – Longtermism & future risks
9:34 – Beneficentrism vs utilitarianism
14:56 – Donating 10%
17:16 – Emotions vs reason
19:09 – Writing with MacAskill
20:28 – What is moral realism?
24:35 – Liberalism vs relativism
25:12 – Why normativity matters
26:30 – Reason vs evolution
28:50 – Conscious AI
30:28 – Who counts morally?
33:55 – Mechanistic minds?
34:52 – Books that shaped him
35:24 – Defining personhood
37:30 – Should philosophers reach people?
40:43 – Status quo bias
43:07 – The meaning of life
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