“I could try to get myself to like broccoli. But it is impossible that I will succeed. It is quite possible, however, that I’ll convince myself that I’ve succeeded; that I’ll think I’ve succeeded; and so, armed with the new (and mistaken) belief that I now like broccoli, I’ll start eating it. This will be terrible, because I will then be eating a thing I don’t actually enjoy, and I’ll be suffering from the cognitive dissonance of thinking that I’ve successfully convinced myself to like broccoli, of deriving conscious pride and satisfaction from having convinced myself to like broccoli, while not enjoying it in the least. In the worst case, that pride and satisfaction in (allegedly but not really) successful self-modification will become a part of my identity; and my (fake) liking of broccoli will one day contribute to a major psychological dislocation (when that aspect of self-identity comes into conflict with reality), with catastrophic consequences; or the internal conflict will continually erode my psyche with nameless anxieties and other demons of the mind, with less-catastrophic, but no less horrible, consequences.”
This sounds extremely relatable! I think what works for me when I have a fear of adopting a fake belief about who I am as a person, is that personalities are very arbitrary and fake in their nature (as in, there is no objective list of traits you objectively have, you just have a list of reactions you would have to different impulses) and so if some belief passes the “self Turing test” (me believing it is true), then it is just as real and good as any other belief I have about myself.
Unless there is something really wrong going on with my perception and my brain is actually malfunctioning and 60% of my beliefs are actually fake and no one is telling me anything because the malfunctioning can hide itself so well… Madoka save our anxious souls.
An alternative model:
“I could try to get myself to like broccoli. But it is impossible that I will succeed. It is quite possible, however, that I’ll convince myself that I’ve succeeded; that I’ll think I’ve succeeded; and so, armed with the new (and mistaken) belief that I now like broccoli, I’ll start eating it. This will be terrible, because I will then be eating a thing I don’t actually enjoy, and I’ll be suffering from the cognitive dissonance of thinking that I’ve successfully convinced myself to like broccoli, of deriving conscious pride and satisfaction from having convinced myself to like broccoli, while not enjoying it in the least. In the worst case, that pride and satisfaction in (allegedly but not really) successful self-modification will become a part of my identity; and my (fake) liking of broccoli will one day contribute to a major psychological dislocation (when that aspect of self-identity comes into conflict with reality), with catastrophic consequences; or the internal conflict will continually erode my psyche with nameless anxieties and other demons of the mind, with less-catastrophic, but no less horrible, consequences.”
I, for one, refuse to let broccoli destroy me.
Oooooh, I like this a lot. Can I copy it into the post above?
Sure.
Also wanted to add that this was very well put
This sounds extremely relatable! I think what works for me when I have a fear of adopting a fake belief about who I am as a person, is that personalities are very arbitrary and fake in their nature (as in, there is no objective list of traits you objectively have, you just have a list of reactions you would have to different impulses) and so if some belief passes the “self Turing test” (me believing it is true), then it is just as real and good as any other belief I have about myself.
Unless there is something really wrong going on with my perception and my brain is actually malfunctioning and 60% of my beliefs are actually fake and no one is telling me anything because the malfunctioning can hide itself so well… Madoka save our anxious souls.
What are personality traits, but reactions to impulses?
What you said sounds like “you don’t have personality traits; all you have are [a synonym for ‘personality traits’]”.
Beliefs do not have to be “not real” to be mistaken.
With respect, it seems to me that you are confused about some basic things, like what beliefs are, and what they are for…