Comments on: Book Review: Willpower

By: Daniel Reeves

Daniel Reeves — Thu, 09 Apr 2015 21:20:10 +0000

For future-me searching for this: my wish has been granted

By: Spark Weekend SF Review | Opentheory.net

Spark Weekend SF Review | Opentheory.net — Mon, 23 Mar 2015 01:35:49 +0000

[…] I find myself wondering: what *is* willpower? This is not anything like a settled issue, judging by SSC’s recent post on the topic. Abe said it was nigh-impossible to increase it, and this seems to be consistent with […]

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By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 19 Mar 2015 08:30:15 +0000

“Ego depletion”? What does that even mean in this context?

Sounds like you’re just TIRED, as any person should be after what you’ve described. Nothing to do with ego depletion/willpower.

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By: Lightning Round – 2015/03/18 | Free Northerner

Lightning Round – 2015/03/18 | Free Northerner — Wed, 18 Mar 2015 05:53:45 +0000

[…] SSC reviews Willpower. […]

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By: Andrew M. Farrell

Andrew M. Farrell — Tue, 17 Mar 2015 14:32:04 +0000

Reading intellectual topics in-depth is takes focused effort.

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By: Andrew M. Farrell

Andrew M. Farrell — Tue, 17 Mar 2015 14:31:12 +0000

I’d be curious to know the effect that short (20-minute) and long (a single REM cycle) naps have on ego repletion.

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By: dhill

dhill — Mon, 16 Mar 2015 20:10:37 +0000

I had that thought too and forgot it… thanks.

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By: naath

naath — Mon, 16 Mar 2015 13:38:58 +0000

How do you know that? Have you ever offered anyone a large reward for spending “just one more hour” studying (after they have already reached their “I need to do something else now” point)? What happens?

I can imagine that in some circumstances I’d cheerfully take your money and press on with the studying and it would work about as well as any studying, but in other circumstances it wouldn’t work at all – for instance I know from direct experience that I rapidly loose cognitive abilities when sleep deprived, after 24 hours awake I’d be about as effective at studying as I would be if I’d just drunk a bottle of wine (just say no), after 48 hours I’m not sure I could even keep my eyes open.

The same with running – if you offer me a big reward to keep going just a little bit further than I want to (perhaps I’m bored, or am thinking “those dishes need doing, I can’t do this all day”); but there’s no reward in the world that will keep me running after I fall over from exhaustion/pain/heart attack/etc.

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By: Paul Torek

Paul Torek — Mon, 16 Mar 2015 11:30:24 +0000

That was an awesome paper; thanks for the reference. Morsella gets the critical point correct, that phenomenal states can play a crucial role in particular behaviors of particular organisms, without being necessary from a design perspective if one were to design an organism from scratch. Lately quite a few thinkers are getting this, but only lately, and still not enough.

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By: Thomas

Thomas — Sun, 15 Mar 2015 11:02:39 +0000

Yup, the idea of flow fits well here, makes sense of the point about videogame. This is also why I probably have a lack of willpower at my current job, it’s become too easy/habitual.

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