You’re assuming that if we have unlimited willpower, we are actually going to use all of it. Willpower is the ability to do what you think is the most correct thing to do. If what you think is the correct thing to do is actually the correct thing to do, then doing it will, by the definition of correctness, be good. So if you do some “high level reasoning” and conclude that not sleeping for a week is the best thing for you to do and then you use your willpower to do it, it will be the best thing to do, just because you’ve done the correct analysis and have taken all costs into consideration (including the cost of bad health because of sleep deprivation).
It’s always good to be able to do the thing that’s the best thing for you to do. What’s bad is to not be able to decide what’s best for you. So we shouldn’t blame willpower. We should blame the inability to take correct decisions.
I think there’s a fundamental flaw in this post.
You’re assuming that if we have unlimited willpower, we are actually going to use all of it. Willpower is the ability to do what you think is the most correct thing to do. If what you think is the correct thing to do is actually the correct thing to do, then doing it will, by the definition of correctness, be good. So if you do some “high level reasoning” and conclude that not sleeping for a week is the best thing for you to do and then you use your willpower to do it, it will be the best thing to do, just because you’ve done the correct analysis and have taken all costs into consideration (including the cost of bad health because of sleep deprivation).
It’s always good to be able to do the thing that’s the best thing for you to do. What’s bad is to not be able to decide what’s best for you. So we shouldn’t blame willpower. We should blame the inability to take correct decisions.