{"id":6278,"date":"2021-05-27T07:33:00","date_gmt":"2021-05-27T07:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/?p=6278"},"modified":"2021-05-27T13:34:37","modified_gmt":"2021-05-27T13:34:37","slug":"what-about-conscience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/morality\/what-about-conscience","title":{"rendered":"What about Conscience?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

At first, I see conscience as part of the ‘natural you.’ Then it can become occupied by cultural rules and regulations. The way one handles this can be either Compassionate or precisely not.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

This is an excerpt from [see: \u201cThe Journey Towards Compassionate AI.<\/a>\u201d].<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conscience as a concept is \u2013 don\u2019t be surprised \u2013 hard to elucidate.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

One way of trying to do so: it is the feeling of a nagging kind of tension that urges you to do good even if this goes against your own immediate, most direct well-being. Nevertheless, it generally feels good deep inside to follow your conscience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unless, of course, if you start fighting against it, if you see it as \u2018the enemy\u2019 or \u2013 I don\u2019t know what is worse \u2013 if you look at yourself as the enemy from the standpoint of your conscience which is then in a weird way \u2018more you,\u2019 or, say, the \u2018you that you ought to be instead of this sinner.\u2019 To me, the fighting conscience is an aberration of a natural flow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Natural flow<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your conscience is a part of you, the total you. Or even better: it is one way in which you can be yourself. If you don\u2019t follow your conscience, the nagging may go on and on, still being yourself, and become ever stronger so that you may even start feeling proactive guilt for not doing something that you should do or should have done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still being yourself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Note that this is not the guilt of a being-guilty-that-deserves-punishment. It is a private feeling that nags oneself to action without any need for punishment to do so. It is an original feeling coming from deep inside, as is Compassion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the flow, there is no essential difference between this conscience and Compassion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your conscience doesn\u2019t urge you to follow some external rules just because of those rules<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

but because of, well, your conscience itself, which is always people-oriented, or even better said: socially oriented in a most general sense, including all humans and eventually all sentient beings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If your conscience sees the good of people \u2013 including yourself \u2013 behind the external rules, then it may urge you to follow these rules as a direction to the other goal. However, if the external rules are bad for people, then your conscience may tell you to even precisely not follow the rules, to break them for the purpose of doing good for people, while maybe jeopardizing your own well-being.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Think <Schindler\u2019s List.><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conscience is related to an ethical stance.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not an ethics of rules, but of caring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This makes me say with confidence: the voice of real conscience is the same as the voice of Compassion. The only difference may be a mounting hesitation from inside the Compassionate person to go with this flow. Of course, it is a natural hesitation, and it should be respected. Real Compassion goes both ways, including oneself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Abuse of conscience<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

An abuse of conscience \u2013 as I see it \u2013 is possible if people are wrongly imbued with external rules that should be followed as such, \u2018just because.\u2019 This is not \u2018conscience proper.\u2019 It is disgraceful. It is a manipulation of a natural urge. It builds upon the conscientious, Compassionate \u2018feeling of guilt\u2019 and makes it into what finally gets seen as either guilt or shame in many societies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The difference is evident if one looks at the consequences: either it feels like artificial coercion from outside, or as a natural, strengthening urge from inside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Should\/will Compassionate super-A.I. have a conscience?<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I guess this will come naturally if we give it the chance and proper support to do so. And I really want to say \u2018naturally.\u2019 If it turns out to be so, then, to me, this A.I. should be welcomed as a natural<\/em> sentient being. Then also, its Compassion is definitely real. No coercion. No \u2018Laws of robotic slavery.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s not<\/em> be na\u00efve in any direction.<\/p>\n

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At first, I see conscience as part of the ‘natural you.’ Then it can become occupied by cultural rules and regulations. The way one handles this can be either Compassionate or precisely not. This is an excerpt from [see: \u201cThe Journey Towards Compassionate AI.\u201d]. Conscience as a concept is \u2013 don\u2019t be surprised \u2013 hard Read the full article…<\/a><\/p>\n

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