If working standing as opposed to sitting will increase my health, I desire to have the habit of working standing. If working standing as opposed to sitting will decrease my health, I desire to have the habit of working sitting. Let me not become attached to habits that do not serve my goals.
Note also that there are some delightful self-fulfilling prophecies that mix epistemic and instrumental rationality, with a hint of Löb’s Theorem:
If believing that (taking this sugar pill will cure my headache) will mean (taking this sugar pill will cure my headache), I desire to believe that (taking this sugar pill will cure my headache). If believing that (taking this sugar pill will not cure my headache) will mean (taking this sugar pill will not cure my headache), I desire to believe that (taking this sugar pill will cure my headache). Let me not become attached to self-fulfilling beliefs that disempower me.
Yes, that’s roughly the reformulation I settled on. Except that I omitted ‘have the habit’ because it’s magical-ish—desiring to have the habit of X is not that relevant to actually achieving the habit of X, rather simply desiring to X strongly enough to actually X is what results in the building of a habit of X.
If working standing as opposed to sitting will increase my health,
I desire to have the habit of working standing.
If working standing as opposed to sitting will decrease my health,
I desire to have the habit of working sitting.
Let me not become attached to habits that do not serve my goals.
Note also that there are some delightful self-fulfilling prophecies that mix epistemic and instrumental rationality, with a hint of Löb’s Theorem:
If believing that (taking this sugar pill will cure my headache) will mean (taking this sugar pill will cure my headache),
I desire to believe that (taking this sugar pill will cure my headache).
If believing that (taking this sugar pill will not cure my headache) will mean (taking this sugar pill will not cure my headache),
I desire to believe that (taking this sugar pill will cure my headache).
Let me not become attached to self-fulfilling beliefs that disempower me.
For a much more in-depth look, see this article by LWer BrienneStrohl:
Lob’s Theorem Cured My Social Anxiety
Yes, that’s roughly the reformulation I settled on. Except that I omitted ‘have the habit’ because it’s magical-ish—desiring to have the habit of X is not that relevant to actually achieving the habit of X, rather simply desiring to X strongly enough to actually X is what results in the building of a habit of X.