One concept that comes to mind is Lost Purposes. Maybe it explains why people fail to stay grounded.
Eg. maybe someone who pursues Good Grades initially does so because it is a means to the end of being Satisfied With Life, but somewhere along the way they start enjoying the feeling of getting Good Grades, and simultaneously forget that the end goal they had in mind was being Satisfied With Life.
I think this hypothesis is similar to some hypotheses you mention in the post, but is subtly different. Maybe.
For the hypothesis that people only say they are pursuing whatever end goal, eg. being Satisfied With Life, but in reality are just seeking social status, I think that implies that this was the plan all along. Whereas with Lost Purposes, there is a shift: at first you were pursuing A, but then you shift and start pursuing B.
For the hypothesis that people are Goodharting on the Symbol, I’m not sure. That seems pretty similar to Lost Purposes actually. I suspect that there are subtle differences that elude me at the moment.
I suspect that the Lost Purposes hypothesis is related to being Posioned By Ambition. When you pursue something hard, even if you logically understand that it is a means to some distinct end, your brain becomes convinced that it is an end in itself, and produces emotions accordingly. I further suspect that Staying Grounded is largely about preventing this from happening.
I wish I knew more about how to successfully do so. Saying “Fuck The Symbols” sounds somewhat promising. It’s sorta like demonstrating to your brain, “See look! I don’t actually care about this Symbol!”. IIRC, there’s evidence that your brain kinda observes your behavior and uses it to make inferences about what you care about, if that makes sense. But I’m not optimistic. I get the feeling that Staying Grounded is a hard problem to solve.
One concept that comes to mind is Lost Purposes. Maybe it explains why people fail to stay grounded.
Eg. maybe someone who pursues Good Grades initially does so because it is a means to the end of being Satisfied With Life, but somewhere along the way they start enjoying the feeling of getting Good Grades, and simultaneously forget that the end goal they had in mind was being Satisfied With Life.
I think this hypothesis is similar to some hypotheses you mention in the post, but is subtly different. Maybe.
For the hypothesis that people only say they are pursuing whatever end goal, eg. being Satisfied With Life, but in reality are just seeking social status, I think that implies that this was the plan all along. Whereas with Lost Purposes, there is a shift: at first you were pursuing A, but then you shift and start pursuing B.
For the hypothesis that people are Goodharting on the Symbol, I’m not sure. That seems pretty similar to Lost Purposes actually. I suspect that there are subtle differences that elude me at the moment.
I suspect that the Lost Purposes hypothesis is related to being Posioned By Ambition. When you pursue something hard, even if you logically understand that it is a means to some distinct end, your brain becomes convinced that it is an end in itself, and produces emotions accordingly. I further suspect that Staying Grounded is largely about preventing this from happening.
I wish I knew more about how to successfully do so. Saying “Fuck The Symbols” sounds somewhat promising. It’s sorta like demonstrating to your brain, “See look! I don’t actually care about this Symbol!”. IIRC, there’s evidence that your brain kinda observes your behavior and uses it to make inferences about what you care about, if that makes sense. But I’m not optimistic. I get the feeling that Staying Grounded is a hard problem to solve.