Its a slightly unfair challenge to make, as for day to day purposes it matters less what you think the most important questions are, but what the majority, or people of high status, think is important. The obvious answer is “because I am less powerful than people who think different things are important, and they determine if I have a job/funding/social status.”
Once you get to this point you’re at least being honest with yourself about what you’re optimizing for. If you waste an hour having a political argument with someone on Facebook, you’re not even being goal-oriented enough to notice that nobody paid you to do that.
Its a slightly unfair challenge to make, as for day to day purposes it matters less what you think the most important questions are, but what the majority, or people of high status, think is important. The obvious answer is “because I am less powerful than people who think different things are important, and they determine if I have a job/funding/social status.”
Once you get to this point you’re at least being honest with yourself about what you’re optimizing for. If you waste an hour having a political argument with someone on Facebook, you’re not even being goal-oriented enough to notice that nobody paid you to do that.