avoiding akrasia by thinking of the world in terms of magic: the gathering effects
example initial thought process: “i should open my laptop just to write down this one idea and then close it and not become distracted”.
laptop rules text: “when activated, has an 80% chance of making you become distracted”
new reasoning: “if i open it, i need to simultaneously avoid that 80% chance somehow.”
why this might help me: (1) i’m very used to strategizing about how to use a kit of this kind of effect, from playing such games. (2) maybe normal reasoning about ‘what to do’ happens in a frame where i have full control over what i focus on, versus this includes it being dependent on my environment
potential downside: same as (2), it conceptualizes away some agency. i.e i could theoretically ‘just choose not to enter negative[1] focus-attraction-basins’ 100% of the time. but i don’t know how to do that 100% of the time, so it works at least as a reflection of the current equilibrium.
some focus-attraction-basins are positive, e.g for me these include making art and deep thinking, these are the ones i want to strategically use effects to enter
I have some dream of being able to generalize skills from games. People who are good at board games clearly aren’t automatically hypercompetent all-around, but I think/hope this is because they aren’t making a deliberate effort to generalize.
avoiding akrasia by thinking of the world in terms of magic: the gathering effects
example initial thought process: “i should open my laptop just to write down this one idea and then close it and not become distracted”.
laptop rules text: “when activated, has an 80% chance of making you become distracted”
new reasoning: “if i open it, i need to simultaneously avoid that 80% chance somehow.”
why this might help me: (1) i’m very used to strategizing about how to use a kit of this kind of effect, from playing such games. (2) maybe normal reasoning about ‘what to do’ happens in a frame where i have full control over what i focus on, versus this includes it being dependent on my environment
potential downside: same as (2), it conceptualizes away some agency. i.e i could theoretically ‘just choose not to enter negative[1] focus-attraction-basins’ 100% of the time. but i don’t know how to do that 100% of the time, so it works at least as a reflection of the current equilibrium.
some focus-attraction-basins are positive, e.g for me these include making art and deep thinking, these are the ones i want to strategically use effects to enter
I have some dream of being able to generalize skills from games. People who are good at board games clearly aren’t automatically hypercompetent all-around, but I think/hope this is because they aren’t making a deliberate effort to generalize.
So, good luck, and let us know how this goes. :)