In the context of this discussion, there is enough time to think things over. I primarily object to letting your brain systematically and repeatedly engage in activities of unclear purpose and meaning, without stopping to reflect on what it’s doing and why, and stopping to do that if the activity appears to be pointless.
What I was attempting to say is that even under those circumstances, there are specific contexts in which I’m consciously unclear as to what I’m doing, or why my brain wants to do this, and it seems pointless after a cursory analysis, but that in those specific contexts for specific types of activities this exact pattern has repeatedly shown itself to produce reliably better results than whatever I would decide to do consciously about those things.
These are not restricted to time-constrained scenarios of pressing urgency.
However, it might not be widely applicable to just anyone in general, since it obviously depends on some subconscious knowledge of these particular activities and a ton of background requirements and given assumptions.
The gist is: There are specific cases where I noticed a pattern that my brain does things which are unclear to me, but where if I act on them I obtain reliably better results than if I do not for certain contrived edge cases. For cases that do not pattern-match to known reliable results, I prefer to think things through as recommended (or sometimes experiment if the VoI is probably larger than the higher expected cost).
The gist is: There are specific cases where I noticed a pattern that my brain does things which are unclear to me, but where if I act on them I obtain reliably better results
This kind of experimental evaluation seems like an all right method of judging your brain, if performed correctly. What I’m not comfortable with is endorsement of the absence of judgement over one’s cognition or of not changing anything based on such judgment, no matter what situations that endorsement is restricted to.
Hmm. Well, true for me too. I wouldn’t endorse it per-se either, especially not in an ideal world with an ideal mind.
However, considering limited mental resources, limited willpower and constant internal competition for the conscious mind’s attentions, I believe that this kind of behavior is instrumentally rational considering that it works when you have a good idea of when automatic behavior produces better results and, more importantly, all the much more likely times where it doesn’t.
In the context of this discussion, there is enough time to think things over. I primarily object to letting your brain systematically and repeatedly engage in activities of unclear purpose and meaning, without stopping to reflect on what it’s doing and why, and stopping to do that if the activity appears to be pointless.
What I was attempting to say is that even under those circumstances, there are specific contexts in which I’m consciously unclear as to what I’m doing, or why my brain wants to do this, and it seems pointless after a cursory analysis, but that in those specific contexts for specific types of activities this exact pattern has repeatedly shown itself to produce reliably better results than whatever I would decide to do consciously about those things.
These are not restricted to time-constrained scenarios of pressing urgency.
However, it might not be widely applicable to just anyone in general, since it obviously depends on some subconscious knowledge of these particular activities and a ton of background requirements and given assumptions.
The gist is: There are specific cases where I noticed a pattern that my brain does things which are unclear to me, but where if I act on them I obtain reliably better results than if I do not for certain contrived edge cases. For cases that do not pattern-match to known reliable results, I prefer to think things through as recommended (or sometimes experiment if the VoI is probably larger than the higher expected cost).
This kind of experimental evaluation seems like an all right method of judging your brain, if performed correctly. What I’m not comfortable with is endorsement of the absence of judgement over one’s cognition or of not changing anything based on such judgment, no matter what situations that endorsement is restricted to.
Hmm. Well, true for me too. I wouldn’t endorse it per-se either, especially not in an ideal world with an ideal mind.
However, considering limited mental resources, limited willpower and constant internal competition for the conscious mind’s attentions, I believe that this kind of behavior is instrumentally rational considering that it works when you have a good idea of when automatic behavior produces better results and, more importantly, all the much more likely times where it doesn’t.