normative

Against Ends-Justify-The-Means Reasoning

Ends-justify-the-means reasoning—doing horrible things, coercing others, or using force because the goal is deemed more important than everything else—looks far worse historically than people simply trying to do helpful things within common-sense ethical bounds, so even immense expected-value calculations do not currently justify breaking the law given how uncertain one's confidence really is.

normativepending

Speaker

Holden Karnofsky

Evidence Quote

The current level of information and confidence I have is, in my opinion, not enough to really justify the means.

Source

Holden Karnofsky — History's most important centuryDwarkesh Patel Podcast
Created: 6/13/2026, 3:35:22 AM

My Notes

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