I suspect that most people can better achieve their preferences by consciously choosing and adopting attitudes rather than going with whatever defaults they grew up with or are prevalent within their social group.
I used to think that. Not so sure anymore.
Consider the advantages of going with the social group. The ingroup signaling of going with the herd. The institutional and social support for the defaults. Social support not just for achieving the ends, but for maintaining your attitudes and persevering along the common course.
The flip side of all those are the handicaps of consciously choosing and adopting. I also suspect that akrasia is much more common going into a societal headwind.
I suspect that if you actually run the numbers, people who go with the societal flow do better. Maybe they’re not Steve Jobs, but neither are most of those who choose to buck society.
Those can all be factors in your conscious computation of what attitude to choose. And, you can choose your herd based on their attitudes. Attitudes are by no means uniform throughout humanity or even within a single society.
I used to think that. Not so sure anymore.
Consider the advantages of going with the social group. The ingroup signaling of going with the herd. The institutional and social support for the defaults. Social support not just for achieving the ends, but for maintaining your attitudes and persevering along the common course.
The flip side of all those are the handicaps of consciously choosing and adopting. I also suspect that akrasia is much more common going into a societal headwind.
I suspect that if you actually run the numbers, people who go with the societal flow do better. Maybe they’re not Steve Jobs, but neither are most of those who choose to buck society.
Those can all be factors in your conscious computation of what attitude to choose. And, you can choose your herd based on their attitudes. Attitudes are by no means uniform throughout humanity or even within a single society.
True, but I’d say that this still stands: