On commitment devices: I think this article: http://blog.beeminder.com/akrasia/ is essentially correct. However I am not at all convinced Beeminder is the best approach for self-binding. Texting a number to robot or get another number booked away from my bank account is far too impersonal for me. It surely has its uses, I just wish we had many different kinds of commitment devices to choose from.
In the ancestral environment it was all about physical needs and social needs. Still these are the strongest motivators. For example someone who wants to get fit might as well join the armed forces. The punishments used there target people’s physical and social needs, and wanting to have the respect of other soldiers motivates too.
Maybe that could be a good idea somehow? When wanting to do X, surround ourselves with people who respect people who do X and disrespect people who don’t do X? This kind of social needs seems to be better for me...
What if someone made an app, perhaps as a Facebook plugin or something, where people with the same goals are put into groups of 12, and they constantly tell each other how they are progressing?
On commitment devices: I think this article: http://blog.beeminder.com/akrasia/ is essentially correct. However I am not at all convinced Beeminder is the best approach for self-binding. Texting a number to robot or get another number booked away from my bank account is far too impersonal for me. It surely has its uses, I just wish we had many different kinds of commitment devices to choose from.
In the ancestral environment it was all about physical needs and social needs. Still these are the strongest motivators. For example someone who wants to get fit might as well join the armed forces. The punishments used there target people’s physical and social needs, and wanting to have the respect of other soldiers motivates too.
Wiki says honor is probably a commitment device.
Maybe that could be a good idea somehow? When wanting to do X, surround ourselves with people who respect people who do X and disrespect people who don’t do X? This kind of social needs seems to be better for me...
What if someone made an app, perhaps as a Facebook plugin or something, where people with the same goals are put into groups of 12, and they constantly tell each other how they are progressing?