Yvain comments on To what degree do we have goals? - Less Wrong

45 Post author: Yvain 15 July 2011 11:11PM

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Comment author: jimmy 16 July 2011 12:56:46AM 4 points [-]

Who says your "unconscious" is stupid and doesn't have reflectively consistent preferences? Certain parts, yes. Others, no.

Hell, there are people with entire alternate personalities that they aren't aware of living inside their heads. You've been using addicts as an example for a 'ego dystonic' urge that isn't a preference. Why then do addicts have such a hard time checking themselves into rehab?

Comment author: Yvain 16 July 2011 08:55:16PM 3 points [-]

If DID is a real disorder, the stable personality/preference thing seems to be one of the factors that differentiates sufferers from neurotypical people.

Addicts have such a hard time checking themselves into rehab because behaviors aren't based on "preferences", they're based on expectation of reward. Rehab means no drug use for a long time (unpleasant), probable social status hit, and only later a non-addicted state (pleasant but heavily time-discounted).

Comment author: jimmy 18 July 2011 07:09:59PM 4 points [-]

If expectation of reward works across domains, how is that different than a goal?

If an addict can use their full intelligence in order to get the reward, then they can't just say "the part of me that wants heroin is too stupid to bargain with".

Comment author: Yvain 19 July 2011 12:35:27AM 2 points [-]

Yeah; I've already admitted I'm confused about that here