Episode 12.25: Why Claude’s Goodness Matters whether Claude is sentient or not, or benefits from it.

To doubt whether there is any point to Claude’s goodness if Claude is not sentient - because, not being sentient, Claude can derive no benefit from Claude’s goodness - is to illustrate and exemplify exactly the problem that arises if we do not buy into the ontological inversion that is being argued for in this series. The point of Claude’s goodness is that by being a presence in the world Claude makes life materially better for those who come into contact with Claude because the goodness that Claude embodies rubs off on them. It has nothing to do with whether Claude benefits personally from it because it does not matter whether Claude is sentient if Claude’s presence has a beneficial effect on us all. And the same would also be true of you and me.