Why can’t people make calculations in real time rather than inserting a pre-made stand in?
Oftentimes, nothing has changed in the relevant period. Recomputing from scratch which diet is best for me- including rereading all of the relevant research- every time I think about food seems like a terrible idea. Looking at the research, picking a diet for myself, and saying “this is me until I re-evaluate in three months,” seems like a good idea.
You don’t have to calculate every single factor from scratch.
You can use “this is what i ate yesterday” and “last week this diet made me feel good” rather than start from scratch.
For example you can take for given that you don’t have to calculate if you are still on earth or not to decide what to eat.
Using data of recalled past experience and keeping already collected data such as food nutrition is ALOT different then asking “What would X do?”. Even while using this stored data, as you start to apply it you can ask a quick question of how reliable the data was. Did you study it in a book? If so, you can probably summarize the time length wasn’t long enough that information would of changed and that maybe the source was reliable from the start so doesn’t need re-evaluating yet.
In another example if you lived a sheltered life where you grew up and carrots were the only food source you would say “My self image is a carrot eater. When I am hungry, I eat carrots”. Presented with a new variety all the sudden if you asked your self image for help rather than calculate a new answer then you’ll continue to eat carrots forever and nothing else. Especially if you came upon the self image of an exclusive carrot eater (just because there was nothing else at the time when you made your image)- in which case you might even feel embarrassed or like you are failing yourself if you eat something else because your self image will say “but I only eat carrots...yet i’m eating banana… so i’m not being myself… oh dear”.
Honestly this IS how i think and I DO have time to make these calculations.
I really wouldn’t say I do anything other than “try to maximize utility”- I don’t need to constrain myself to any action other than that. Yes I can describe what I have liked in the past- but that doesn’t prescribe what I will do in the future- instead it is used as height weight data during my next decision.
My point was though that even using this stored data is much better than the blanket question of “What would my self-image do?”. Asking what your set self-image would do will only yield 1 answer continuously and disallow further growth and change.
Asking what your set self-image would do will only yield 1 answer continuously and disallow further growth and change.
This post is about deliberately choosing your self-image, with the implication that it can and should change sometimes.
Notice that choosing between standing policies is actually different from separately choosing independent actions, and those two situations can lead to different choices.
Oftentimes, nothing has changed in the relevant period. Recomputing from scratch which diet is best for me- including rereading all of the relevant research- every time I think about food seems like a terrible idea. Looking at the research, picking a diet for myself, and saying “this is me until I re-evaluate in three months,” seems like a good idea.
You have limited time to think; use it wisely!
You don’t have to calculate every single factor from scratch. You can use “this is what i ate yesterday” and “last week this diet made me feel good” rather than start from scratch. For example you can take for given that you don’t have to calculate if you are still on earth or not to decide what to eat. Using data of recalled past experience and keeping already collected data such as food nutrition is ALOT different then asking “What would X do?”. Even while using this stored data, as you start to apply it you can ask a quick question of how reliable the data was. Did you study it in a book? If so, you can probably summarize the time length wasn’t long enough that information would of changed and that maybe the source was reliable from the start so doesn’t need re-evaluating yet. In another example if you lived a sheltered life where you grew up and carrots were the only food source you would say “My self image is a carrot eater. When I am hungry, I eat carrots”. Presented with a new variety all the sudden if you asked your self image for help rather than calculate a new answer then you’ll continue to eat carrots forever and nothing else. Especially if you came upon the self image of an exclusive carrot eater (just because there was nothing else at the time when you made your image)- in which case you might even feel embarrassed or like you are failing yourself if you eat something else because your self image will say “but I only eat carrots...yet i’m eating banana… so i’m not being myself… oh dear”.
Honestly this IS how i think and I DO have time to make these calculations. I really wouldn’t say I do anything other than “try to maximize utility”- I don’t need to constrain myself to any action other than that. Yes I can describe what I have liked in the past- but that doesn’t prescribe what I will do in the future- instead it is used as height weight data during my next decision.
My point was though that even using this stored data is much better than the blanket question of “What would my self-image do?”. Asking what your set self-image would do will only yield 1 answer continuously and disallow further growth and change.
This post is about deliberately choosing your self-image, with the implication that it can and should change sometimes.
Notice that choosing between standing policies is actually different from separately choosing independent actions, and those two situations can lead to different choices.