MichaelHoward comments on Improving The Akrasia Hypothesis - Less Wrong

69 Post author: pjeby 26 February 2010 08:45PM

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Comment author: Vladimir_Golovin 27 February 2010 07:09:19PM *  22 points [-]

It doesn't deserve a top-level post, but I do have a method for locating conflicts that works for me -- a written self-interview. I open an empty Word document, and imagine that I'm being interviewed by someone (or something?) smarter, more confident or higher-status than me.

I won't quote my existing interview documents -- they're too context-dependent, and sometimes too personal -- but here's an example of how it usually looks like:

Alpha: You look depleted. What's bothering you?
Me: I feel that the work I'm doing isn't leading me anywhere.
Alpha: What do you mean by 'anywhere'? Money? Fame? Personal satisfaction?
Me: Money.
Alpha: So, you think that the work you're doing isn't going to make you rich, right?
Me: Right.
Alpha: Then why are you doing it?
...
...

The interview continues until I find the source of the conflict and decide how to resolve it. If I can't locate it on the first session, I get back to the saved document later to continue the interview. I included the names 'Alpha' and 'Me' for readability -- I don't type any names when recording the interview.

I have at least three occasions when this technique helped me pinpoint conflicts that paralyzed me (one of them was a cause of a 6-month procrastination streak.)

Comment author: MichaelHoward 27 February 2010 09:22:02PM 10 points [-]

Some programmers do something like this when they're stuck on a problem - they call it Rubber Ducking. Googling it I just found 4 separate stories about students having to explain their programming problems out loud to teddy bears before they get to ask a teacher.

Comment author: wnoise 27 February 2010 09:34:13PM 14 points [-]

I prefer the teddy bear, because then you can refer to it as the "bug bear".

Comment author: ata 28 February 2010 03:24:26PM 10 points [-]

Interesting technique, I'll need to remember that.

Reminds me of the several times I've thought I've disagreed with Eliezer on various issues here, spent a while understanding my objections so I could detail it in a reply, and ended up convincing myself of his orignal position by the time I finished writing.

Comment author: homunq 15 February 2015 08:22:28PM 0 points [-]

Would be better if you didn't say whom you ended up agreeing with. Most people here have either a halo or horns on Eliezer, and discounting that is distracting.

Comment author: Liron 01 March 2010 07:07:22AM 0 points [-]

+1 mind change

Comment author: Vladimir_Golovin 27 February 2010 09:41:57PM *  2 points [-]

Yes, I confirm that this works -- because I myself serve as a Rubber Duck / Teddy Bear. I lead a team of programmers, and they come to me to talk about their current problems. I always welcome this, and I often initiate these rubber-ducking sessions myself.

However, I didn't realize that I'm essentially rubber-ducking myself (heh!) during my self-interviews. Interesting.