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Ethical Codes are Brittle if they are not Moral Systems

by marcohmuniz
3rd Nov 2025
1 min read
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I would argue that traditional moral systems formed through theistic cultures can counterintuitively be more flexible to stress than atheistic moral systems.

I believe this is because of an insistence of codifying ethics.

Some people believe that without the law everyone would kill everyone else. This is both true and false. And is largely not what you think out loud, but what you believe and do: a self-fulfilling prophecy.

The following is largely my own experience but I think given the history of this site is not just coincidence or correlation. (my previous account is monkymind)

The effective altruist movement creates (or inspires) young people with brittle ethical codes who often turn to bitterness to those less good around them. This is a natural response. It is difficult to treat with kindness those you resent. This deep bitterness and resentment towards humanity is palpable to onlookers. 

And I believe that no one who feels it, not just thinks it, should be in charge of anything, not our governments, and not AI development.

I do not believe moral systems are one size fit all. This applies to people and AIs. We can try to codify, we can make a massive decision tree, we can stress about it, we can be morally obsessive compulsive about it. This will not make us or what we create, effective altruists.