You could say the same for any form of entertainment. Yet people generally feel that having some enjoyable entertainment in their lives is a terminal value.
I have fun reading textbooks and practicing foreign languages. It’s not as concentrated fun as you get from a superstimulus like a video game, but it lasts longer and is more psychologically rewarding.
I used to play games to relax. But like eating unhealthy food, the benefit was ephemeral and the consequences lasting. Applying rationality to my own life (long before the existence of LW) resulted in ejecting that part of my life and finding more productive alternatives. My life is better as a result: I subjectively experience more fun and make better progress on my life goals.
I’ve been clean from video games for >10 years, and I could not recommend it more.
Playing video games results in a waste of a life, however.
You could say the same for any form of entertainment. Yet people generally feel that having some enjoyable entertainment in their lives is a terminal value.
Of course people think that way. I used to. Self reflection led me to evict that belief as it made for inconsistent thinking.
Care to provide an argument for that statement?
Care to explain how playing a video game can be the most productive available activity, more productive than anything else you could be doing?
It’s fun
I have fun reading textbooks and practicing foreign languages. It’s not as concentrated fun as you get from a superstimulus like a video game, but it lasts longer and is more psychologically rewarding.
I used to play games to relax. But like eating unhealthy food, the benefit was ephemeral and the consequences lasting. Applying rationality to my own life (long before the existence of LW) resulted in ejecting that part of my life and finding more productive alternatives. My life is better as a result: I subjectively experience more fun and make better progress on my life goals.
I’ve been clean from video games for >10 years, and I could not recommend it more.
If video games have a significant effect