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Ishaan comments on Opinions on having a stronger preference or an open preference - Less Wrong Discussion
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I'm not sure I understand the distinction. Are you saying you might pick which color you'll wear each weekday or choose a favorite clock in advance to avoid decisions?
I have a little gnome in the back of my mind that makes these very small choices for me on autopilot and my body automatically does what it says without thinking about it. The bulk of my consciousness is otherwise occupied or offline daydreaming and generally I don't even remember making these insignificant choices or remembering which choice I made.
This usually works out fine, except for sometimes the gnome made the wrong choice and once I notice I have to correct it. Is that not the usual setup?
Most people seem to have an "established specific preference" with respect to coffee or tea. They have a standard order at Starbucks/whatever, or morning coffee is always made the same way. (And I must say, pre-caffeine is an optimal time not to need to think about things.) Most people have more "open" preferences with respect to restaurants. They will try different things on the menu, rather than ordering the same thing every time. "What am I in the mood for today?"
This sounds like an atypical experience, depending on your scope of "insignificant," although others in these sorts of discussions have mentioned feeling like they were passive observers of choices being made, rather than actively making choices.
What do you consider a significant choice? I don't spend much time thinking about clothing after I buy it, for example, but I know others who will spend several minutes picking out outfits every morning. They consider that a significant decision. Similarly, many people spend a lot of time thinking about "what to say" and "which words to say it with," some to the point of having trouble communicating because of obsessing over how to communicate; at the other extreme, there are people with absolutely no internal monologue who do not know what they are going to say until it comes out of their mouths.