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Latimer2k comments on What big goals do we have? - Less Wrong
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Motivation has always intrigued me, ever since I was I kid, I wondered why I had none. I would read my textbooks until I got bored. I'd ace all my tests and do no homework. Every night I went to sleep swearing to myself that tomorrow would be different, tomorrow I would tell my parents the truth when they asked if I had homework and actually do it. I'd feel so guilty for lying, but I never actually did anything.
I joined the military because I knew I couldn't survive in college the way I'd got through high-school. 10 years later I'm smarter, but still technically uneducated and no more motivated.
I've started to think to myself lately... That the sum of human knowledge. From the very discovery of our fundamentals to the pinnacles of theory and achievement adds up to contributions from what couldn't possibly be more than 10% of the people who have ever lived. What stops people not from just achieving their goals, but even wanting goals in the first place?
I've started to wonder if I do have the capability to become someone who could legitimately contribute something to the sum of human knowledge (rationally speaking I have to admit that I probably don't). But if I do is it an obligation? Should I push myself against my own will to achieve things I don't even really care about?
I'm interested in hearing others' answers to this one. My personal take on it is a firm 'no, it's not an obligation', but it's been a while since I actually thought about the issue, and I'm not sure how much of my reaction is reflexive defensiveness. (I know that I work better when I don't feel obligated-by-society, but that's not much in the way of evidence: My reaction to feeling manipulated or coerced far outweighs my reaction to feeling obligated.)
No. Unless, of course your 'caring' is ambivalent and you wish to overwrite your will in favour of one kind of 'caring'.
Bear in mind, of course, that many things you may push yourself to against your natural inclinations are actually goals that benefit you directly (or via the status granted for dominant 'altruistic' acts). Sometimes the reasoning 'I will be penalised by society or the universe in general if I do not do it' is itself a good reason to care. Like you get to continue to eat if you do it.