You seem to be directing questions at me, yet you posted this comment as a reply to someone else. Had I not checked back in this thread to bask in the pale green glow of my upvote count, I would never have found your post.
Did this LWer accurately assess his own 100% defeat of akrasia? (“No problems?” Like, ever?)
I don’t remember asking him and getting a clear answer. The lack of that memory may mean I didn’t think to ask, it may mean that someone else took the “floor” (so to speak (heh)) and I didn’t get to ask it, or it may be that he answered and it wasn’t clear to me what he meant. I doubt he thought he eliminated 100% of all small akrasia-produced problems.
Was he actually avoiding objectively stupid things? Or just things he deemed as stupid as the self-reported Conquerer of Akrasia? Did he really have “his shit together”? Or is it possible he was mistaken? Perhaps he was a bit blinded by his biased self-image? (I mean, he never experiences even mild akrasia? Is he a robot?)
I don’t know him well enough to say. He talked about inflicting sleep deprivation (3 hours per night) on himself as a byproduct of trying to get more time to work, for an extended period of time (I don’t remember what he said, but I think at least a month) (It was part of a warning against doing that, he said his productivity was drastically decreased so much it wasn’t nearly worth it). I also know he worked in what I believe is a highly-paid profession. I think his shit-togetherness was higher than average.
Are you sure your shit isn’t together? Compared to whom? Is it possible you have generated your identity, in part, as a comparison to those who you’ve been led to believe are better than you when, in fact, their self-reported self-image is not an accurate representation of reality? Because of this, is it possible you aren’t giving yourself enough credit? And would it then follow that your actions might be constrained by your inaccurately low self-image?
I didn’t say my shit wasn’t together, I said my shit wasn’t together enough to build an identity that keeps me from doing stupid things out of akrasia.
There is a lot more to productivity than hard work/resistance to akrasia. I don’t believe that I suck, or even that I am below average, or even below average in akrasia resistance specifically. Most of the “normal people” I know (people I know for reasons unrelated to their akrasia resistance, intelligence, epistemic rationality, strategy, or knowledge) are pretty impressed with my work ethic, my shit-togetherness, and probably by extension my akrasia resistance in general (though I don’t have as direct evidence about their opinions on this).
Among akrasia resistance, intelligence, epistemic rationality, strategy, and knowledge, I think it is nonetheless akrasia resistance that holds me back the most.
An accurate view of your objective output (productivity, etc.) can be valuable. A deluded identity can keep you from improving—it can keep you from even recognizing you need improvement.
I doubt there are many people on LessWrong who believe that the advantages of delusion in self-image outweigh the detriments. I am not one of them.
You seem to be directing questions at me, yet you posted this comment as a reply to someone else. Had I not checked back in this thread to bask in the pale green glow of my upvote count, I would never have found your post.
I don’t remember asking him and getting a clear answer. The lack of that memory may mean I didn’t think to ask, it may mean that someone else took the “floor” (so to speak (heh)) and I didn’t get to ask it, or it may be that he answered and it wasn’t clear to me what he meant. I doubt he thought he eliminated 100% of all small akrasia-produced problems.
I don’t know him well enough to say. He talked about inflicting sleep deprivation (3 hours per night) on himself as a byproduct of trying to get more time to work, for an extended period of time (I don’t remember what he said, but I think at least a month) (It was part of a warning against doing that, he said his productivity was drastically decreased so much it wasn’t nearly worth it). I also know he worked in what I believe is a highly-paid profession. I think his shit-togetherness was higher than average.
I didn’t say my shit wasn’t together, I said my shit wasn’t together enough to build an identity that keeps me from doing stupid things out of akrasia.
There is a lot more to productivity than hard work/resistance to akrasia. I don’t believe that I suck, or even that I am below average, or even below average in akrasia resistance specifically. Most of the “normal people” I know (people I know for reasons unrelated to their akrasia resistance, intelligence, epistemic rationality, strategy, or knowledge) are pretty impressed with my work ethic, my shit-togetherness, and probably by extension my akrasia resistance in general (though I don’t have as direct evidence about their opinions on this).
Among akrasia resistance, intelligence, epistemic rationality, strategy, and knowledge, I think it is nonetheless akrasia resistance that holds me back the most.
I doubt there are many people on LessWrong who believe that the advantages of delusion in self-image outweigh the detriments. I am not one of them.