When I’m particularly torn on a choice, I flip a coin. But I don’t always do what the coin says.
If my initial reaction to the result of the flip is to wish that the coin had come up the other way, then I go against it. If my reaction is relief, then I follow the coin. If I still don’t care, then I realize that it really is too close to call, and either go with the coin, or pick some criteria to optimize for.
I don’t know if this is telling me what I really want, tapping into unconscious decision making processes, or just forcing me to solidify my views in some direction. I will say I’m generally happy with the results.
I’m pondering the origin of minds that ask ‘the wrong questions’.
If you wake up thinking ‘Should I hunt today, or should I gather?’ it’s because some part of your brain has plans on how to do those things that it is reasonably confident of. (They are reachable.)
Your conscious mind makes the decision that doesn’t matter much. The real survival-critical decisions are ‘made for you’ and are consciously experienced as overwhelming fear, or perhaps dread of boredom or frustration.
Our conscious, semi-logical minds would evolve to be good at making these marginally important decisions, maybe negotiating based on what others are doing. (and upon failure, consulting coin flips or other omens.)
In this scenario we did not evolve conscious minds that are good at generating meaningful questions. This at least fits the data point I started with, but then my brain didn’t evolve to be good at considering it’s origins, either.
When I’m particularly torn on a choice, I flip a coin. But I don’t always do what the coin says.
If my initial reaction to the result of the flip is to wish that the coin had come up the other way, then I go against it. If my reaction is relief, then I follow the coin. If I still don’t care, then I realize that it really is too close to call, and either go with the coin, or pick some criteria to optimize for.
I don’t know if this is telling me what I really want, tapping into unconscious decision making processes, or just forcing me to solidify my views in some direction. I will say I’m generally happy with the results.
I’m pondering the origin of minds that ask ‘the wrong questions’.
If you wake up thinking ‘Should I hunt today, or should I gather?’ it’s because some part of your brain has plans on how to do those things that it is reasonably confident of. (They are reachable.) Your conscious mind makes the decision that doesn’t matter much. The real survival-critical decisions are ‘made for you’ and are consciously experienced as overwhelming fear, or perhaps dread of boredom or frustration.
Our conscious, semi-logical minds would evolve to be good at making these marginally important decisions, maybe negotiating based on what others are doing. (and upon failure, consulting coin flips or other omens.)
In this scenario we did not evolve conscious minds that are good at generating meaningful questions. This at least fits the data point I started with, but then my brain didn’t evolve to be good at considering it’s origins, either.