I really dislike the phrase "human values". I think it's confusing because: It obscures a distinction between human preferences and normative values, i.e. what the author thinks is good in a moral sense Insofar as the author thinks that fulfilling human preferences is good, they often leave this unjustified It's unclear who the "human" in "human values" is. Is it... The person using the phrase "human values" Any particular single individual Most humans Certain humans Humans as they will be in the future, or after "reflection" It's often used with an unjustified implicit assumption, like: Humans will eventually converge on deciding to value to same stuff, provided enough time/intelligence/information What most/some humans value must be objectively good to pursue Because they have intuitive access to moral truths, or Because of an ethical framework that necessitates this like preference utilitarianism Most humans already value the same stuff Instead of "human values", people should either: Talk about someone's preferences Their own preferences The preferences most / some people share The preferences they / some / most people would have after reflecting A special type of subset of those preferences (e.g. preferences that stay [...] ---
First published:
November 15th, 2025

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/dyDpJyNLgAHTAHeX9/don-t-use-the-phrase-human-values
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