Alright, since no one seems to be understanding my question here, I’ll try to reframe it.
(First, to be clear, I’m not having a problem with motivation. I’m not having a problem with indecision. I’m not having a problem with identifying my terminal goal(s).)
To use an analogy, imagine you’re playing a video game, and at some point you come to a room where the door shuts behind you and there’s no other way out. There’s nothing in the room you can interact with, nothing in your inventory that does anything; you poor over every detail of the room, and find there is no way to progress further; the game has glitched, you are stuck. There is literally no way beyond that room and no way out of it except reseting to an earlier save point.
That is how my life feels from the inside: no available paths. (In the glitched video game, it is plausible that there really is no action that will lead to progression beyond the current situation. In real life, not so much.)
Given that it is highly unlikely that this is an accurate Map of the Territory that is the real world, clearly there is a flaw in how I generate my Map in regards to potential paths of advancement in the Territory. It is that cognitive flaw that I wish to correct.
I am asking only for a way to identify and correct that flaw.
I rather doubt there is a fully-generalizable theory of the sort you seem to be looking for. Some territories are better left than explored in more detail, if it be within your power to do so; others can be meaningfully understood and manipulated.
If you are in a dead-end job in a small town where you are socially isolated and clash culturally with the locals, do not have professional credentials sufficient to make a lateral move plausible (ie, working retail as opposed to something that requires a degree), the advice will necessarily be different than if you are in a major city and have a career of some kind.
What works in New York may not work so well in Lake Wobegon.
Some territories are better left than explored in more detail
Forgive me if I’m mistaken, but are you saying that some blank places on our Maps ought to be deliberately kept blank? That seems, well, insane.
In any case, at no point did I ask for advice about my specific situation. I want the algorithm being used to generate that advice, not the advice itself.
Forgive me if I’m mistaken, but are you saying that some blank places on our Maps ought to be deliberately
kept blank? That seems, well, insane.
No, I’m saying that not all situations present the same amount of opportunities, and your situation makes a difference whether or not you think it does.
I do not think there is a fully-general piece of advice for you, but you clearly believe there is. I believe this is a mistake on your part, and have said so several times now. Since you are not apparently interested in hearing that, I will not bother to repeat myself further.
I’m saying that not all situations present the same amount of opportunities, and your situation makes a difference whether or not you think it does.
Okay, and that’s not something I dispute. If I did somehow manage to correct my cognitive flaw, one of the possibilities is that I’d discover that I really don’t have any options. But I can’t know that until the flaw is solved.
I do not think there is a fully-general piece of advice for you, but you clearly believe there is.
Of course I believe there is a fully general algorithm for identifying avenues of advancement towards a terminal goal. But phrasing it like that just made me realize that anyone who actually knew it would have already built an AGI.
Well, having it described in terms suitable for human improvement and relying on existing human cognitive abilities would lower it just to universally applicable intelligence amplification.
I don’t think many here would propose that portions of the map be kept blank for the sake of keeping them blank.
It is easy to see that, with limited resources, it may be preferable to leave some regions blank when you’ve determined that there are likely to be bigger gains to be had elsewhere for cheaper.
This is in fact what I meant—one’s map is necessarily local to one’s territory, and sometimes the gains of going over it in more detail are minimal.
To go with the analogy of maps: if what you want is advice on how to plant a garden, it matters whether or not you’re in the middle of the Sahara Desert.
I think I understand the feeling you’re having now. Still, It seems highly unlikely to me that you can fix this “cognitive flaw” in isolation, before you’ve found a few concrete avenues of advancement...I find that my habits, including habits of thought, are trainable rather than fixable in the abstract.
Are you in school? If so, would you like to study something different? If not, is there something you do want to study? Are you working or is there somewhere you want to work? These are conventional paths to life-advancement.
None of that information would constrain the space of possibilities in which the cognitive flaw exists, no matter what my answers happened to be. That’s all a level above the actual problem, and irrelevant.
It seems highly unlikely to me that you can fix this “cognitive flaw” in isolation, before you’ve found a few concrete avenues of advancement.
Well, that seems rather boot-strap-ish, since finding concrete avenues of advancement is exactly what the cognitive flaw is preventing me from doing.
If the flaw lies in your choices, choose differently.
If the flaw lies in your habits, practice better habits.
If the flaw lies in your cognitive habits, you must do something higher up on this list in order to be able to develop different cognitive habits.
Your existing habits and choices (and arguably genetics and environment) may not be what created the situation which is becoming intolerable, but they are the easiest thing to work on.
You do not have to worry about making the right change or practices—start with whatever seems easiest. And try not to go against your ‘better’ judgement.
Alright, since no one seems to be understanding my question here, I’ll try to reframe it.
(First, to be clear, I’m not having a problem with motivation. I’m not having a problem with indecision. I’m not having a problem with identifying my terminal goal(s).)
To use an analogy, imagine you’re playing a video game, and at some point you come to a room where the door shuts behind you and there’s no other way out. There’s nothing in the room you can interact with, nothing in your inventory that does anything; you poor over every detail of the room, and find there is no way to progress further; the game has glitched, you are stuck. There is literally no way beyond that room and no way out of it except reseting to an earlier save point.
That is how my life feels from the inside: no available paths. (In the glitched video game, it is plausible that there really is no action that will lead to progression beyond the current situation. In real life, not so much.)
Given that it is highly unlikely that this is an accurate Map of the Territory that is the real world, clearly there is a flaw in how I generate my Map in regards to potential paths of advancement in the Territory. It is that cognitive flaw that I wish to correct.
I am asking only for a way to identify and correct that flaw.
I rather doubt there is a fully-generalizable theory of the sort you seem to be looking for. Some territories are better left than explored in more detail, if it be within your power to do so; others can be meaningfully understood and manipulated.
If you are in a dead-end job in a small town where you are socially isolated and clash culturally with the locals, do not have professional credentials sufficient to make a lateral move plausible (ie, working retail as opposed to something that requires a degree), the advice will necessarily be different than if you are in a major city and have a career of some kind.
What works in New York may not work so well in Lake Wobegon.
Forgive me if I’m mistaken, but are you saying that some blank places on our Maps ought to be deliberately kept blank? That seems, well, insane.
In any case, at no point did I ask for advice about my specific situation. I want the algorithm being used to generate that advice, not the advice itself.
No, I’m saying that not all situations present the same amount of opportunities, and your situation makes a difference whether or not you think it does.
I do not think there is a fully-general piece of advice for you, but you clearly believe there is. I believe this is a mistake on your part, and have said so several times now. Since you are not apparently interested in hearing that, I will not bother to repeat myself further.
Good luck finding what you’re after though.
Okay, and that’s not something I dispute. If I did somehow manage to correct my cognitive flaw, one of the possibilities is that I’d discover that I really don’t have any options. But I can’t know that until the flaw is solved.
Of course I believe there is a fully general algorithm for identifying avenues of advancement towards a terminal goal. But phrasing it like that just made me realize that anyone who actually knew it would have already built an AGI.
Well, crap.
Well, having it described in terms suitable for human improvement and relying on existing human cognitive abilities would lower it just to universally applicable intelligence amplification.
So you did not ask for something AGI-equivalent.
I’m glad this has been enlightening. ^^
I don’t think many here would propose that portions of the map be kept blank for the sake of keeping them blank.
It is easy to see that, with limited resources, it may be preferable to leave some regions blank when you’ve determined that there are likely to be bigger gains to be had elsewhere for cheaper.
This is in fact what I meant—one’s map is necessarily local to one’s territory, and sometimes the gains of going over it in more detail are minimal.
To go with the analogy of maps: if what you want is advice on how to plant a garden, it matters whether or not you’re in the middle of the Sahara Desert.
I think I understand the feeling you’re having now. Still, It seems highly unlikely to me that you can fix this “cognitive flaw” in isolation, before you’ve found a few concrete avenues of advancement...I find that my habits, including habits of thought, are trainable rather than fixable in the abstract.
Are you in school? If so, would you like to study something different? If not, is there something you do want to study? Are you working or is there somewhere you want to work? These are conventional paths to life-advancement.
None of that information would constrain the space of possibilities in which the cognitive flaw exists, no matter what my answers happened to be. That’s all a level above the actual problem, and irrelevant.
Well, that seems rather boot-strap-ish, since finding concrete avenues of advancement is exactly what the cognitive flaw is preventing me from doing.
Okay, I’m sorry none of my answers were helpful to you. I don’t know what to suggest.
If the flaw lies in your choices, choose differently. If the flaw lies in your habits, practice better habits. If the flaw lies in your cognitive habits, you must do something higher up on this list in order to be able to develop different cognitive habits.
Your existing habits and choices (and arguably genetics and environment) may not be what created the situation which is becoming intolerable, but they are the easiest thing to work on.
You do not have to worry about making the right change or practices—start with whatever seems easiest. And try not to go against your ‘better’ judgement.