oh yeah, Torture vs Dust Specks gets a big mention!
Yes, it's the urge to be a Philosophy Tough Guy.
(note: need more smoking gun on LessWrongers openly scorning philosophy even though it's blatantly an amateur philosophy site.)
The art thing is from Yudkowsky's video Q&A series. He didn't go so far as advocating the abolition of all art, but he didn't think it very useful. That he then wrote a Harry Potter fanfic explicitly to advocate his ideas, and that he's continued writing fiction since (Red Tidday Up, White Tidday Down), suggests he isn't actually against art as such.
no subject
Yes, it's the urge to be a Philosophy Tough Guy.
(note: need more smoking gun on LessWrongers openly scorning philosophy even though it's blatantly an amateur philosophy site.)
The art thing is from Yudkowsky's video Q&A series. He didn't go so far as advocating the abolition of all art, but he didn't think it very useful. That he then wrote a Harry Potter fanfic explicitly to advocate his ideas, and that he's continued writing fiction since (Red Tidday Up, White Tidday Down), suggests he isn't actually against art as such.