I suggest just getting some casual exercise or watching some good films and tv shows. They’re full of emotionally motivating experiences.
I think there is a worrying tendency to promote puritan values on LW. I personally see no moral problem with procrastination, or even feeling bad every so often. I feel worried that I might not hit deadlines or experience some practical consequence from not working on a task but I wouldn’t want to add moral guilt. I think if people lose sight of the pleasures in life they become nihilistic which in turn leads them to be selfish and cruel as an expression of their pain.
If you can feel good about yourself and recognise that the positive playful fun that can come with idle pleasures might actually be the point. They represent the one value system that does seem pretty sensible. If you can enjoy them, you can feel the emotional energy to be nice and supportive to others. I certainly don’t want a friendly AI enforcing the morality of anti-procrastination, anti-unhealthy eating, anti-indulgence or any other form of self flagellating self improvement. Lets just be supportive of one another and try to have a good time.
I don’t think you have an accurate model of the community here. For example, people don’t talk about being productive all the time, they talk about reducing akrasia, which is being unproductive when you would genuinely prefer to be more productive. I see this site as promoting perfectionism—trying to get the most value out of what you currently want to be doing. If what I really want to do is travel the world then I should make concrete plans to do that rather than sit at home watching travel shows, which is what most people do. And if I have an assignment due but I want to relax, the best way to enjoy that relaxation would be to get that assignment done so that I don’t feel guilty about it during my fun time.
If you really think that the people here would prefer to be puritanical, I refer you to the recentish posts about video games, board games, and Go.
I suggest just getting some casual exercise or watching some good films and tv shows. They’re full of emotionally motivating experiences.
I think there is a worrying tendency to promote puritan values on LW. I personally see no moral problem with procrastination, or even feeling bad every so often. I feel worried that I might not hit deadlines or experience some practical consequence from not working on a task but I wouldn’t want to add moral guilt. I think if people lose sight of the pleasures in life they become nihilistic which in turn leads them to be selfish and cruel as an expression of their pain.
If you can feel good about yourself and recognise that the positive playful fun that can come with idle pleasures might actually be the point. They represent the one value system that does seem pretty sensible. If you can enjoy them, you can feel the emotional energy to be nice and supportive to others. I certainly don’t want a friendly AI enforcing the morality of anti-procrastination, anti-unhealthy eating, anti-indulgence or any other form of self flagellating self improvement. Lets just be supportive of one another and try to have a good time.
I don’t think you have an accurate model of the community here. For example, people don’t talk about being productive all the time, they talk about reducing akrasia, which is being unproductive when you would genuinely prefer to be more productive. I see this site as promoting perfectionism—trying to get the most value out of what you currently want to be doing. If what I really want to do is travel the world then I should make concrete plans to do that rather than sit at home watching travel shows, which is what most people do. And if I have an assignment due but I want to relax, the best way to enjoy that relaxation would be to get that assignment done so that I don’t feel guilty about it during my fun time.
If you really think that the people here would prefer to be puritanical, I refer you to the recentish posts about video games, board games, and Go.