It bothers me how inconsistent I am. For example, consider covid-risk. I’ve eaten indoors before. Yet I’ll say I only want to get coffee outside, not inside. Is that inconsistent? Probably. Is it the right choice? Let’s say it is, for arguments sake. Does the fact that it is inconsistent matter? Hell no!
Well, it matters to the extent that it is a red flag. It should prompt you to have some sort of alarms going off in your head that you are doing something wrong. But the proper response to those alarms is to use that as an opportunity to learn and grow and do better in the future. Not to continue to make bad choices moving forward out of fear that inconsistency is unvirtuous. Yet this fear is a strong one that is often moving. At least for me.
Inconsistency is a pointer to incorrectness, but I don’t think that example is inconsistent. There’s a reference class problem involved—eating a meal and getting a coffee, at different times, with different considerations of convenience, social norms, and personal state of mind, are just not the same decision.
I hear ya. In my situation I think that when you incorporate all of that and look at the resulting payoffs and probabilities, it does end up being inconsistent. I agree that it depends on the situation though.
Inconsistency as the lesser evil
It bothers me how inconsistent I am. For example, consider covid-risk. I’ve eaten indoors before. Yet I’ll say I only want to get coffee outside, not inside. Is that inconsistent? Probably. Is it the right choice? Let’s say it is, for arguments sake. Does the fact that it is inconsistent matter? Hell no!
Well, it matters to the extent that it is a red flag. It should prompt you to have some sort of alarms going off in your head that you are doing something wrong. But the proper response to those alarms is to use that as an opportunity to learn and grow and do better in the future. Not to continue to make bad choices moving forward out of fear that inconsistency is unvirtuous. Yet this fear is a strong one that is often moving. At least for me.
Inconsistency is a pointer to incorrectness, but I don’t think that example is inconsistent. There’s a reference class problem involved—eating a meal and getting a coffee, at different times, with different considerations of convenience, social norms, and personal state of mind, are just not the same decision.
I hear ya. In my situation I think that when you incorporate all of that and look at the resulting payoffs and probabilities, it does end up being inconsistent. I agree that it depends on the situation though.