Suppose you’re extremely powerful. Then the only self-knowledge you need is about what most pleases you. If it turns out that additional self-knowledge is what pleases you, great.
Suppose you’re extremely weak. You can barely stay alive; self-knowledge is useful when it can help you stay healthy, and useless when it merely spends glucose without any material reward.
Between those extremes, it seems like increased self-knowledge might be pleasing or empowering (depending on the specific individual+circumstances). But I think that when it’s actively sought, it’s hard to sift the truth from the confabulation.
I’ve always been interested in knowing and improving my habits and tendencies. It seems like what I’m passively aware of shows just a small portion of my present brain state, and whatever more I can actively trace is disappointingly little.
Suppose you’re extremely powerful. Then the only self-knowledge you need is about what most pleases you. If it turns out that additional self-knowledge is what pleases you, great.
Suppose you’re extremely weak. You can barely stay alive; self-knowledge is useful when it can help you stay healthy, and useless when it merely spends glucose without any material reward.
Between those extremes, it seems like increased self-knowledge might be pleasing or empowering (depending on the specific individual+circumstances). But I think that when it’s actively sought, it’s hard to sift the truth from the confabulation.
I’ve always been interested in knowing and improving my habits and tendencies. It seems like what I’m passively aware of shows just a small portion of my present brain state, and whatever more I can actively trace is disappointingly little.