I don’t know either you or OP, and am not in either of your heads. However, from this and other things OP wrote, I suspect that this model has worked for them. From what you’re saying in point 2, this model would not work for you and fails to accurately describe what’s going on in your head.
Lifelonglearner, I suspect you are making a broader claim than you can support, but that the narrower claim inside it is accurate. I agree with you that giving people new models may sometimes be net-negative. I agree with you that tabooing and/or breaking down akrasia is probably a useful tool to get at a symptom and figure out a way to deal with that symptom. I intend to give it a shot, and I’ll make sure to note what kind of results I get- if you like, I’d be pretty happy to put those notes somewhere you can get at them if you want datapoints to refine this.
I think akrasia is a useful model when in non-taboo form. When I read “instead of treating akrasia as an abstraction that unifies a class of self-imposed problems that share the property of acting as obstacles towards our goals, we treat it as a problem onto itself” my first thought was that description made it sounded like depression. Depression isn’t exactly self-imposed, but it can look an awful lot like it is. It’s worth noting that attacking depression as an entity of itself can be far more effective than trying to break it down into symptoms.
(I’m not suggesting that akrisia === depression! I am suggesting that there exist abstractions that unify a set of symptoms that are best attacked as the abstraction they are.)
I don’t know either you or OP, and am not in either of your heads. However, from this and other things OP wrote, I suspect that this model has worked for them.
I personally prefer the aesthetic of figuring out how stuff works as a priority. And one could argue that this also gives greater practical benefits in the long run… but sometimes the “long run” is pretty long indeed.
I personally prefer the aesthetic of figuring out how stuff works as a priority.
To me these are somewhat orthogonal issues. I like cute/pretty/elegant and I like practical/functional/effective, but I’m willing to get them from different things. Of course, if something manages to combine the two, that’s great.
I don’t know either you or OP, and am not in either of your heads. However, from this and other things OP wrote, I suspect that this model has worked for them. From what you’re saying in point 2, this model would not work for you and fails to accurately describe what’s going on in your head.
Lifelonglearner, I suspect you are making a broader claim than you can support, but that the narrower claim inside it is accurate. I agree with you that giving people new models may sometimes be net-negative. I agree with you that tabooing and/or breaking down akrasia is probably a useful tool to get at a symptom and figure out a way to deal with that symptom. I intend to give it a shot, and I’ll make sure to note what kind of results I get- if you like, I’d be pretty happy to put those notes somewhere you can get at them if you want datapoints to refine this.
I think akrasia is a useful model when in non-taboo form. When I read “instead of treating akrasia as an abstraction that unifies a class of self-imposed problems that share the property of acting as obstacles towards our goals, we treat it as a problem onto itself” my first thought was that description made it sounded like depression. Depression isn’t exactly self-imposed, but it can look an awful lot like it is. It’s worth noting that attacking depression as an entity of itself can be far more effective than trying to break it down into symptoms.
(I’m not suggesting that akrisia === depression! I am suggesting that there exist abstractions that unify a set of symptoms that are best attacked as the abstraction they are.)
I’m sorry, but I’m not talking about what is useful in someone’s head. I’m referring to the best current ideas of how this really plays out in the brain. For some background, try https://sideways-view.com/2017/02/19/the-monkey-and-the-machine-a-dual-process-theory/
I’ll take “what is useful in someone’s head” over some harebrained ideas about how it really plays out any day.
Praxis is the criterion of truth :-P
Legit :-)
I personally prefer the aesthetic of figuring out how stuff works as a priority. And one could argue that this also gives greater practical benefits in the long run… but sometimes the “long run” is pretty long indeed.
To me these are somewhat orthogonal issues. I like cute/pretty/elegant and I like practical/functional/effective, but I’m willing to get them from different things. Of course, if something manages to combine the two, that’s great.