Oscar_Cunningham comments on Self-Improvement or Shiny Distraction: Why Less Wrong is anti-Instrumental Rationality - Less Wrong

105 Post author: patrissimo 14 September 2010 04:17PM

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Comment author: pjeby 14 September 2010 05:22:50PM 37 points [-]

forcing yourself to do what you know you ought to instead of what is fun & easy.

I had difficulty engaging with most of your article from this point on, because your premise seems to be that Work is hard and problematic and we must be forced to do it.

This premise is not just epistemically false: believing it has bad instrumental effects as well.

Ask anybody who's actually productive -- especially those who make a lot of money by being productive, and nearly all of them will tell you that they love their work. (The rest will probably say they love money, or prestige, or whatever other result their work gets for them.)

IOW, instrumental observation shows that the driving factor of high productivity is loving something more, not forcing yourself to do something you love less.

Comment author: Oscar_Cunningham 14 September 2010 06:34:31PM *  9 points [-]

This could be a selection effect: the people who naturally like effective behaviours succeed, the rest of us will still have to work for it.

Comment author: Relsqui 15 September 2010 12:07:06AM 0 points [-]

Is effectiveness at self-improvement linked to the quantity and health of children?

Comment author: Nisan 15 September 2010 04:27:57AM 2 points [-]

Oscar is referring to this bias.