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Giles comments on HELP! I want to do good - Less Wrong Discussion
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Isn't "optimizing for the best possible course of action and not simply pursuing one reasonable course of action" what instrumental rationality is all about?
"You're a better person than I am at the moment" doesn't make me feel any better, no. This is something I'll address in a later post.
Given your psychological situation, choosing to pursue one reasonable course of action may well be the best course of action. Maybe over time you'll get over your akrasia issues, but until then, the optimal decision is to do as much good as you can given those issues.
Instrumental rationality is about the best course of action, yes. But stressing over things so much that you can't achieve even the second- or third- or hundredth-best course of action isn't instrumentally rational either.
This is a very good point, and I'll be basing a later post around this theme.
Having said that, at the moment I don't feel that I have akrasia issues. But in my decision-making, I certainly have to consider the hypothesis that I have akrasia issues that I am in denial about.