Ugh. This massively oversimplifies human desire or self-knowledge.
Procrastination is the broad fuzzy description of a phenomena where a person says he wants to do X, but does not do X.
Right. Or that parts of him want to do X, but other parts don’t want to do the elements that make X maximally likely. Or that he doesn’t want ONLY X. Or that X is the thing that is emotionally salient at the moment, but that won’t last. Or that X is what they want to be seen as wanting, but they don’t actually want it.
This feels a lot like the weight loss debate—Calories in < calories out is true, but useless. Defining “want” as “what you pursue wholeheartedly and consistently” is also fine, but useless.
procrastination is actually a broad label for seeming mismatch or contradiction of internal desires
Agreed, and that is real and difficult to deal with for most people. The solution (of integrating this self-knowledge and identifying/creating more consistent wants) is only ever achieved by a small subset of humans, and often takes decades of practice.
> Procrastination is the broad fuzzy description of a phenomena where a person says he wants to do X, but does not do X.
By “person says” I mean “person signals” (internally or externally)
> Or that parts of him want to do X, but other parts don’t want to do the elements that make X maximally likely.
Sure, and that multi-agent behavior will have negotiations and save outward behavior. It can be reluctant signaling—but the fact that there are signals mean an activation threshold has been reached
This applies to all those descriptions—In-fact the last of them “X is what they want to be seen as wanting, but they don’t actually want it. ” is exactly the point I am making.
> Defining “want” as “what you pursue wholeheartedly and consistently” is also fine, but useless.
I think it can be very useful, specially if you also want to believe and act like “I do whatever I want”
> The solution (of integrating this self-knowledge and identifying/creating more consistent wants) is only ever achieved by a small subset of humans, and often takes decades of practice.
There’s a spectra of skill, so even some practice can give you noob gains. “The solution” is similar to “winning” in rationality—and there’s nothing else to do in life—so it is as good a goal as any.
Ugh. This massively oversimplifies human desire or self-knowledge.
Right. Or that parts of him want to do X, but other parts don’t want to do the elements that make X maximally likely. Or that he doesn’t want ONLY X. Or that X is the thing that is emotionally salient at the moment, but that won’t last. Or that X is what they want to be seen as wanting, but they don’t actually want it.
This feels a lot like the weight loss debate—Calories in < calories out is true, but useless. Defining “want” as “what you pursue wholeheartedly and consistently” is also fine, but useless.
Agreed, and that is real and difficult to deal with for most people. The solution (of integrating this self-knowledge and identifying/creating more consistent wants) is only ever achieved by a small subset of humans, and often takes decades of practice.
> Procrastination is the broad fuzzy description of a phenomena where a person says he wants to do X, but does not do X.
By “person says” I mean “person signals” (internally or externally)
> Or that parts of him want to do X, but other parts don’t want to do the elements that make X maximally likely.
Sure, and that multi-agent behavior will have negotiations and save outward behavior. It can be reluctant signaling—but the fact that there are signals mean an activation threshold has been reached
This applies to all those descriptions—In-fact the last of them “X is what they want to be seen as wanting, but they don’t actually want it. ” is exactly the point I am making.
> Defining “want” as “what you pursue wholeheartedly and consistently” is also fine, but useless.
I think it can be very useful, specially if you also want to believe and act like “I do whatever I want”
> The solution (of integrating this self-knowledge and identifying/creating more consistent wants) is only ever achieved by a small subset of humans, and often takes decades of practice.
There’s a spectra of skill, so even some practice can give you noob gains. “The solution” is similar to “winning” in rationality—and there’s nothing else to do in life—so it is as good a goal as any.