Vladimir_Nesov comments on Confused as to usefulness of 'consciousness' as a concept - LessWrong

35 Post author: KnaveOfAllTrades 13 July 2014 11:01AM

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Comment author: Vladimir_Nesov 11 July 2014 10:50:07PM *  2 points [-]

Goal-directed behavior (or its absence) is a much clearer concept, but even then humans rarely have clear goals. As you point out, akrasia and irrationality are common.

This looks like a precision vs. accuracy/relevance tradeoff. For example, some goals that are not explicitly formulated may influence behavior in a limited way that affects actions only in some contexts, perhaps only hypothetical ones (such as those posited to elicit idealized values). Such goals are normatively important (contribute to idealized values), even though formulating what they could be or observing them is difficult.