Sorry if someone has covered this before, but I had an interesting thought. Sometimes I’ll make a deal with myself, I’ll say I’ll goof off for X minutes but then I have to work for Y minutes afterwards. Often times, when the time is up, I won’t follow through on the deal. What’s interesting is I that feel like a causal agent being asked to just leave the money that’s lying right there. I’m only going to give myself chances to goof off if I trust myself to get back to work but by the time the time for work comes, I’m in some sense a different person, no longer bound or endangered by old agreements. Omega (old me) is gone and never coming back. This all of course ignore long term goals, moral satisfactions, etc.
Newcomb and Procrastination
Sorry if someone has covered this before, but I had an interesting thought. Sometimes I’ll make a deal with myself, I’ll say I’ll goof off for X minutes but then I have to work for Y minutes afterwards. Often times, when the time is up, I won’t follow through on the deal. What’s interesting is I that feel like a causal agent being asked to just leave the money that’s lying right there. I’m only going to give myself chances to goof off if I trust myself to get back to work but by the time the time for work comes, I’m in some sense a different person, no longer bound or endangered by old agreements. Omega (old me) is gone and never coming back. This all of course ignore long term goals, moral satisfactions, etc.