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2026-06-10

Long list of mental models on morality

Disclaimer

• Quick Note
• Contains politically sensitive info

Main

• Morality is shaped by suffering
  • "Incentives shape morality" - Power-seeking people often create moral systems to defend the route the used to seize power, and if they hold on to their power for long enough, then these moral systems become popular in society. Also, people undergo significant suffering due to incentives being against them, and then change their morals.
    • Technological offence/defence balances shape which routes to power are available. Socioeconomic class shapes which routes to power are available. Capitalism and/or democracy and/or their lack thereof shapes which routes to power are available. The internet shapes which routes to power are available. Offence/defence balance of transparency versus privacy shapes which routes to power are available. Offence/defence balances of various types of weaponry (horseback archers, guns, ships, nukes, submarines, etc) shape which routes to power are available.
  • "Suffering is (maybe) the best form of persuasion" - People tend to change the core of their morality or worldview only when they suffer, otherwise persuading anyone of anything is hard.
  • Suffering early in life is a potent example of this. See also: generational trauma
  • "Morality as habit" - People are slow to change their morals in practice regardless of what theory says. But, suffering can update people rapidly.
  • "Power buys you distance from the crime" - Empathy is easier in-person or on video call, harder everywhere else. There are incentives to not meet the people you hurt.
• Reputation and trustworthiness
  • Equilibria in repeated games
    • Being repeatedly nice to everyone is a stable attractor
    • Ingroup-outgroup dynamics are another stable attractor. Being repeatedly nice to your allies and not nice to your enemies is a stable attractor.
  • Uncanny valley of honesty
    • People who are extremely honest tend to succeed. People who are extremely good at deception also tend to succeed. People who half ass both tend to fail.
    • This also applies to keeping promises, not just honesty. Unless you are extremely good at deception, you can't bluff when offering support to allies or making threats against your enemies, you have to actually mean it.
• Morality and political ideology
  • Aesthetic versus True Believer
    • Most people have political ideology as aesthetic, but live normie groupthink lives. True Believers are rare but they are who everyone else defers to.
    • True Believers don't regret political violence. Example: Bhagat Singh, Nelson Mandela, Osama Bin Laden, Ted Kaczynski, Adolf Hitler, von Stauffenberg
    • True Believers don't regret extreme non-violence. Example: Buddha and followers of buddhism, Jesus and some followers of christianity, etc
  • Classifying political ideologies
    • MtG colour wheel, and Duncan Sabien's interpretation. Especially if sorting political ideologies into MtG colour wheel
    • Three compass political axis. Political auth/lib, economic left/right, socially left/right. See also: Vitalik Buterin on Big Government, Big Corporate, Big Mob.
    • Thomas Sowell's constrained versus unconstrained visions
  • Morality and the law
    • Does law shape morality or morality shape law?
    • Examples of domestic law - US constitutional law, Sharia law, confucian law, roman catholic canon law, Chinese legalism (book of lord shang), etc
    • International law
  • Specific axis: Capitalism (economically right) and democracy
    • Democracy and capitalism have some True Believers who will support these systems when it's against their interests. And some who just try to game the system from within.
  • Specific axis: Socially right-leaning versus left-leaning views
    • Socially right-leaning mental models on how morality could affect your ability to have long-term romantic relationships, or how kids could change your morality. Socially left-leaning views on why traditional family/community structures should be dismantled.
    • Who are your allies and who are your enemies? Out of all your allies, which ones get priority? Onion model versus extreme cosmopolitanism.
    • Who is ingroup is often defined by family relationships, or defined by geographic borders, or defined by a persuasive ideology that appeals to the same core parts of many people.
    • Prioritising self versus prioritising ingroup
    • See also: repeated games and reputation, in ingroup-outgroup dynamics
  • Special case: Transhumanist political systems

My current views on all this, in short

• I am a lot more sympathetic to "morality is shaped by personal experiences with suffering" as compared to "morality is shaped by abstract considerations like political ideology or analysing game theory."
• At a high-level, your moral orientation will probably be decided by personal experiences, and after that you might fill in the details based on more abstract considerations, or situation-specific considerations.

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