XKCD on my desk at work: http://xkcd.com/974/
This topic made me wonder if we can't make things, or we make create things that are harder to put your finger on - better ideas. Another way of putting that is what we have conceptual OCD, and compulsively spend our time straightening up our ideas.
Instead of paper clip maximizers, we're good idea maximizers.
good idea maximizers.
Or sounds-superfically-good-enough-to-make-you-feel-good idea maximizers?
I was wondering if anyone has ever had the feeling, like I get sometimes, that they were addicted to 'meta-level' optimizing rather than low-level acting? As in, I'd rather think about how to encourage myself to brush my teeth more than brush my teeth. I'm guessing there's something about this under the akrasia threads?
The motivations to remain in meta and thinking about things rather than acting on them seems to be that it takes less effort to think about doing things than to do them, and there is potentially more long-term benefit in making an overall improvement than in engaging in a specific action. The drawback is that if you remain thinking about meta all the time, you won't get anything done.