Why am I going swimming? To socialize and for health benefits.
Why do I want to jump into the cold water? Because (a) I’ve precommited to do so (b) I want to build the habit and (c) it’s not worth the opportunity cost of any further analysis.
Is this the time or place for any further analysis? No. I’m in swimming mode not in hobby-rationality mode.
Our rationality hobby is about meta-thinking. Learning how to think better and about how to reason better. When you’re standing in front of a pool or when going through life in general you have to to make ordinary 5-second decisions. Our rationality, ideally, helps us make better decisions in that time span because we notice when we’re confused, we are aware of what our preferences are and so on. Or we may conclude it’s an important decision that demands more time for further analysis. Either way we still have to make regular decisions within a few seconds like everybody else! Five seconds to either go home to your thinking-chair or to jump into the pool and go swimming.
And why are we even thinking about this problem in the first place? It’s an absolute no-brainer. There is nothing to be gained by analyzing this.
Of all the philosophical problems you could be thinking about, of all the rationality problems you could be working on, is this the one you should spend your time on? No. Slap a question mark on it and mark it “for further analysis” if you have to, but otherwise it’s just a humongous waste of time.
(One trick though for fooling yourself that works consistently for me is asking myself “Would James Bond do this?”. Would he stand at the edge of the pool questioning himself? No. Would he walk down the street while looking at his feet? No. Would he avert his gaze or mumble incoherently? No. The question fits easily within the 5 second window and as a bonus: it’s fun to visualize Mr Bond standing at the edge of a pool awkwardly rubbing the back of his head as he deliberates whether to jump or not to jump.)
Disagree. There is no contradiction.
Why am I going swimming? To socialize and for health benefits.
Why do I want to jump into the cold water? Because (a) I’ve precommited to do so (b) I want to build the habit and (c) it’s not worth the opportunity cost of any further analysis.
Is this the time or place for any further analysis? No. I’m in swimming mode not in hobby-rationality mode.
Our rationality hobby is about meta-thinking. Learning how to think better and about how to reason better. When you’re standing in front of a pool or when going through life in general you have to to make ordinary 5-second decisions. Our rationality, ideally, helps us make better decisions in that time span because we notice when we’re confused, we are aware of what our preferences are and so on. Or we may conclude it’s an important decision that demands more time for further analysis. Either way we still have to make regular decisions within a few seconds like everybody else! Five seconds to either go home to your thinking-chair or to jump into the pool and go swimming.
And why are we even thinking about this problem in the first place? It’s an absolute no-brainer. There is nothing to be gained by analyzing this.
Of all the philosophical problems you could be thinking about, of all the rationality problems you could be working on, is this the one you should spend your time on? No. Slap a question mark on it and mark it “for further analysis” if you have to, but otherwise it’s just a humongous waste of time.
(One trick though for fooling yourself that works consistently for me is asking myself “Would James Bond do this?”. Would he stand at the edge of the pool questioning himself? No. Would he walk down the street while looking at his feet? No. Would he avert his gaze or mumble incoherently? No. The question fits easily within the 5 second window and as a bonus: it’s fun to visualize Mr Bond standing at the edge of a pool awkwardly rubbing the back of his head as he deliberates whether to jump or not to jump.)