Open Thread: July 2009

Here's our place to discuss Less Wrong topics that have not appeared in recent posts. Have fun building smaller brains inside of your brains (or not, as you please).

My previous attempt at asking this question failed in a manner that confuses me greatly, so I'm going to attempt to repair the question.

Suppose I'm taking a math test. I see that one of the questions is "Find the derivative of 1/cos(x^2)." I conclude that I should find the derivative of 1/cos(x^2). I then go on to actually do so. What is it that causes me (specifically, the proximate cause, not the ultimate) to go from concluding that I should do something to attempting to do it?

At the risk of providing a non-answer I'll say: Operant conditioning.

The test problem, the solving of it, and getting an answer correspond to a light coming on, pressing a lever, and getting food.

We've long since been trained that solving problems in that context build up token points that will pay out later in praise and promises of money.

Presumably this training translates fairly well to real world problems.

1Richard_Kennaway17y

It is an interesting mental exercise, when you are about to do something but have not yet begun it, to try to introspectively perceive the moment of decision. I find it's like trying to see the back of my own head.

1HalFinney17y

That's a good question, judging by the number and variety of replies. I'd suggest that in a way, things go the other way around. Instead of your concluding you should do something causing you to do it, instead I think you are (already) aiming to do something, and that drives you to figure out what you should do. The urge to do causes figuring out what to do, rather than the figuring causing the doing. But that's a little over-simplified, as discovered by people trying to program robots that interact with the world. Deciding what to do at any given moment is distinctly non-trivial.

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Open Thread: July 2009

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