I strongly agree with the framing of neocortex vs “monkey brain” (I’ll call it “subcortex” instead, it’s not like monkeys don’t have a neocortex), e.g. my post here or others.
The part I disagree with here is the framing that “willpower” is the neocortex doing its own thing, while akrasia is the subcortex overruling the neocortex and running the show.
I think all motivations come from the subcortex, both “noble” motivations and “base” motivations. The “noble” motivations are where , the thing itself might or might not be rewarding, but where the thought “myself doing that thing” is rewarding. For example maybe doing my homework is not rewarding, but it’s rewarding to think “I am doing my homework / I did my homework”. Conversely, for “base” motivations to do a thing, the thing itself is presumably rewarding, but the meta-thought “myself doing that thing” has negative value. For example, eating candy is rewarding, but the thought “I am eating candy” is aversive.
Then there’s a conflict in the neocortex, and sometimes the neocortex will keep attention on the meta-thought, and do the “noble” thing, and other times it won’t, and it will do the “base” thing. And when it does manage to do the “noble” thing, we look back fondly on that memory as the right thing to have done, by definition, since the memory is of ourselves doing the thing.
Anyway, I would say that the monkey brain / subcortex is responsible for making the thought of “doing homework” aversive and the monkey brain / subcortex is responsible for making the meta-thought of “I am doing my homework” attractive.
(UPDATE: SEE THE POST (Brainstem, Neocortex) ≠ (Base Motivations, Honorable Motivations) FOR MUCH MORE ON THIS)
I strongly agree with the framing of neocortex vs “monkey brain” (I’ll call it “subcortex” instead, it’s not like monkeys don’t have a neocortex), e.g. my post here or others.
The part I disagree with here is the framing that “willpower” is the neocortex doing its own thing, while akrasia is the subcortex overruling the neocortex and running the show.
I think all motivations come from the subcortex, both “noble” motivations and “base” motivations. The “noble” motivations are where , the thing itself might or might not be rewarding, but where the thought “myself doing that thing” is rewarding. For example maybe doing my homework is not rewarding, but it’s rewarding to think “I am doing my homework / I did my homework”. Conversely, for “base” motivations to do a thing, the thing itself is presumably rewarding, but the meta-thought “myself doing that thing” has negative value. For example, eating candy is rewarding, but the thought “I am eating candy” is aversive.
Then there’s a conflict in the neocortex, and sometimes the neocortex will keep attention on the meta-thought, and do the “noble” thing, and other times it won’t, and it will do the “base” thing. And when it does manage to do the “noble” thing, we look back fondly on that memory as the right thing to have done, by definition, since the memory is of ourselves doing the thing.
Anyway, I would say that the monkey brain / subcortex is responsible for making the thought of “doing homework” aversive and the monkey brain / subcortex is responsible for making the meta-thought of “I am doing my homework” attractive.