SoullessAutomaton comments on An observation on cryocrastination - Less Wrong
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I don't drink coffee, but I suspect it is a justifiable expenditure. Coffee drinkers, would you say that drinking coffee makes you, say, 15% more productive for the hour after you drink it? If you gain any productivity benefit, is it due to something about drinking coffee, or something about not not having had coffee? (The second question isn't relevant to this discussion much; I'm just wondering whether I should start drinking coffee myself.)
It doesn't make much sense to look into expenditures that are small, sporadic, and that you suspect make you feel better. However, it does make sense to look into an everyday expenditure if is big, regular, or potentially useless. (For example, if you generally buy a new pair of shoes every month or two, that's definitely worth looking into--it fits all three of the criteria.) You can frame cryonics expenses as small and regular or big and irregular, but either way they trip one of the criterion. (Coffee expenses are also regular and therefore worth looking into, but as I explained above, I think they might be justified.)
If you're drinking coffee for purely instrumental value, don't buy it from coffee shops. Also don't drink espresso, as it takes longer to make and/or is more expensive. The instrumentally ideal coffee is black, the cheapest stuff you can choke down, and preferably made by someone else (who you aren't paying to do so).
That said, I drink coffee more for pleasure than productivity. I can't say I really endorse it for such purposes--caffeine tolerance builds up too quickly for it to be sustainable, and the negative productivity while decreasing intake seems to more than outweigh the gains felt while increasing.
I suggest acquiring enough of a taste for coffee to not hate consuming it, possibly by drinking decaf, but don't drink it regularly otherwise--reserve it for an occasional (weekly or less) shot of safe, legal stimulant when it will do the most good.
Thanks!