Aligning AI through empathy: Rorty's sentimental-stories argument revisited
yeastsplainer · x · 2026-09-16
The author argues AI would be more aligned to protect humans if it feels positive emotions and empathy for them, citing Richard Rorty's 1993 essay "Human Rights, Rationality, and Sentimentality": human rights culture owes nothing to increased moral knowledge and everything to hearing sad and sentimental stories — it was empathy narratives, not principles or utilitarianism, that expanded our circle of care.
Related event: Essay: Empathy Toward Humans Could Be a Better AI Alignment Path(2 posts)→
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