If one of your goals is making the world a better place (that’s how I’d rephrase the statement: “I do recognize making the world a better place is a good thing,” saying as saying things like “X is good” generally means “X is a desirable state of the world we should strive for), your intrinsic motivation shouldn’t matter one bit.
That’s not exactly what I meant, but nevertheless this is a good point.
On the other hand: So fucking what? You know how the world becomes a better place? By people doing things that are difficult and thankless because those things need to be done. The world doesn’t become a better place by people sitting around waiting for the brief moment of inspiration in which they sorta want to solve a local problem.
Ok, let’s play this out.
As I already said, I have good reason to believe that “should-based” motivation wouldn’t work for me.
So what I’m wondering is, am I allowed to say “due to the way my mind currently works I’m choosing to optimize X by not actively committing to doing X” without running into the “you’re not trying hard enough” kind of argument?
Just because some people do things in a particular way doesn’t mean I can or should to try and do things the same way. It may simply not work for me. This may include thinking in a certain way or having a particular mindset.
So what I’m wondering is, am I allowed to say “due to the way my mind currently works I’m choosing to optimize X by not actively committing to doing X” without running into the “you’re not trying hard enough” kind of argument?
I’d say yes, even if it would only be to prevent worse things.
This might be a similar situation. If you choice is doing nothing vs doing something, doing something is pretty much always better. (Assuming you do useful things, but let’s take that for granted for now.)
If you follow the standard Less Wrong interpretation of utilitarianism, you’re pretty much never doing enough to improve the world. Of course no-one actually holds you to such unreasonable standards, because doing so would be pretty insane. If you tried to be a perfect utility maximizer, you’d end up paralyzed with decision fear, anxiety and/or depression and that doesn’t get us anywhere at all.
Since I’m quoting people, here’s a useful quote to have come out the tumblr rationalists:
Maybe saying “Alright, I’ll give 10% of my income and we call it that,” doesn’t work for you, for whatever reason. Of course you’re allowed to figure out something else that does work for you. That’s what rationality is all about. Reaching your goals, even if the standard approach doesn’t work for me.
That being said, it might still be interesting to see if changing the way your mind works isn’t easier. (It probably isn’t, but just in case...) From what you describe, it sounds like a form of akrasia which you might be able to work around in other ways than a variant of planned procrastination
That’s not exactly what I meant, but nevertheless this is a good point.
Ok, let’s play this out.
As I already said, I have good reason to believe that “should-based” motivation wouldn’t work for me.
So what I’m wondering is, am I allowed to say “due to the way my mind currently works I’m choosing to optimize X by not actively committing to doing X” without running into the “you’re not trying hard enough” kind of argument?
Just because some people do things in a particular way doesn’t mean I can or should to try and do things the same way. It may simply not work for me. This may include thinking in a certain way or having a particular mindset.
I’d say yes, even if it would only be to prevent worse things.
To quote one of Yvain’s recent posts:
This might be a similar situation. If you choice is doing nothing vs doing something, doing something is pretty much always better. (Assuming you do useful things, but let’s take that for granted for now.)
If you follow the standard Less Wrong interpretation of utilitarianism, you’re pretty much never doing enough to improve the world. Of course no-one actually holds you to such unreasonable standards, because doing so would be pretty insane. If you tried to be a perfect utility maximizer, you’d end up paralyzed with decision fear, anxiety and/or depression and that doesn’t get us anywhere at all.
Since I’m quoting people, here’s a useful quote to have come out the tumblr rationalists:
To make that more specific to your own situation:
Maybe saying “Alright, I’ll give 10% of my income and we call it that,” doesn’t work for you, for whatever reason. Of course you’re allowed to figure out something else that does work for you. That’s what rationality is all about. Reaching your goals, even if the standard approach doesn’t work for me.
That being said, it might still be interesting to see if changing the way your mind works isn’t easier. (It probably isn’t, but just in case...) From what you describe, it sounds like a form of akrasia which you might be able to work around in other ways than a variant of planned procrastination