Armok_GoB comments on Get Curious - Less Wrong

51 Post author: lukeprog 24 February 2012 05:10AM

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Comment author: Armok_GoB 23 February 2012 01:04:35PM -1 points [-]
  1. I so far have a 100% failure rate in establishing habits that involve writing things down or in other ways externalize memory.
  2. I don't have any such cards. I also doubt paying a game once for 5 minutes will help much, and akrasia and stress will prevent any more than that.
  3. Of those, absolutely the latter, but neither seems plausible.
  4. I have zero control over both, because akrasia.

... my "not true rejection!" alarm is going of but I can't seem to find anything to do with that information either.

Comment author: lukeprog 23 February 2012 08:31:19PM 3 points [-]

Yeah, sounds like you have a general motivation problem that needs fixing before you can get better at a lot of other things.

Comment author: Armok_GoB 23 February 2012 10:02:45PM 8 points [-]

Not quite, but it seem unlikely this conversation will get further without getting into mental problems I really don't want to discus with someone whose opinion I care about, like you.

Comment author: Zvi 25 February 2012 03:28:01PM 2 points [-]

I find your honesty in these posts inspiring. I wish more people had such courage.

Comment author: Armok_GoB 25 February 2012 08:21:38PM 2 points [-]

Ah, yea. Backing out of a conversation and retracting all my posts as soon as it gets uncomfortable sure is courageous!

Comment author: NancyLebovitz 25 February 2012 08:59:14PM 4 points [-]

It still took a good bit of nerve to make those posts.

Comment author: lukeprog 23 February 2012 10:26:45PM 2 points [-]

Sure.

Comment author: NancyLebovitz 23 February 2012 03:45:41PM 0 points [-]

Post some hypotheses and/or predictions at Less Wrong. There's a least a reasonable chance that people will tell you if you're mistaken.

Comment author: hamnox 23 February 2012 06:04:38PM -1 points [-]
  1. I so far have a 100% failure rate in establishing habits that involve writing things down or in other ways externalize memory.

This is true for me as well. Which is why I try to rely on programs that prompt me to reply at random intervals through computer popups or sms, rather than habit.

I highly doubt you have zero control over effort. Akrasia limits your ability to act on willpower, it doesn't negate willpower entirely. Reward yourself for those 30 second googling bursts if nothing else.

I'm serious, have a jar of mini chocolate chips by your desk and pop one in your mouth every time you google an interesting question on scholar or wikipedia.

Comment author: [deleted] 23 February 2012 08:20:53PM *  7 points [-]

have a jar of mini chocolate chips by your desk and pop one in your mouth every time you google an interesting question on scholar or wikipedia.

Is there any evidence this works? 1) Does the brain treat these discretionary pleasures as reinforcement? 2) If it does, do attribution effects undermine the efficacy? Research in attribution effects show that extrinsic rewards sometimes undermine intrinsic interest, i.e., curiosity. "Negative effects are found on high-interest tasks when the rewards are tangible, expected (offered beforehand), and loosely tied to level of performance."

Comment author: rhollerith_dot_com 23 February 2012 07:39:24PM *  3 points [-]

have a jar of mini chocolate chips by your desk and pop one in your mouth every time you google an interesting question on scholar or wikipedia.

Disagree. The target of your advice has reported serious health problems (and his akrasia would probably be a lot easier to overcome if it weren't for the health problems, according to my models (which are based only on what he has posted to LW and on information not specific to him)) so I would advise him not to choose what to eat for its reward value.

To help him decide what weight to give my advice, I will add that I have had serious health problems for the last 40 years.

Moreover, I have serious doubts about the usefulness of setting up blatantly artificial (i.e., self-imposed for the purpose of conditioning oneself) cause-and_effect relationships between desired changes in behavior and rewards even when the rewards have no expected negative effect on health.

Comment author: hamnox 24 February 2012 09:37:46PM 3 points [-]

You're right. This was very poorly considered advice. I'm ashamed to admit I kind of recognized that as I was writing it, but posted it anyways for reasonable-sounding justifications that now suspiciously elude memory.

Comment author: rhollerith_dot_com 26 February 2012 03:34:13AM *  0 points [-]

I kind of recognized that as I was writing it, but posted it anyways

I know the feeling (from times I have given advice).

Comment author: Dmytry 25 February 2012 04:37:51PM 1 point [-]

I'm serious, have a jar of mini chocolate chips by your desk and pop one in your mouth every time you google an interesting question on scholar or wikipedia.

maaaan i have to condition myself NOT to google interesting questions else i can't get any work done for my job. But i see what you mean, that may work for conditioning oneself to work.

Comment author: Zack_M_Davis 25 February 2012 07:33:35PM 0 points [-]

(A caution: I've found that naive implementations of the "reward oneself with candy" method for overcoming akrasia don't work because it becomes too tempting to just eat the candy for no reason. It has been suggested to me that it might help to explicitly write down beforehand exactly what actions justify a reward, but I haven't gotten around to testing this yet. Individual results may vary; further research is needed.)