Show HN: Kommit – Web app to help you follow through with NY's resolutions • Hacker News Board

Re: Show HN: Kommit – Web app to help you follow through with NY's resolutions

#21

Post by matsemann » Thu, Dec 30, 2021, 12:39 PM UTC

marginalia_nu wrote: post #10

I keep seeing hints of this strange model of the soul, I don't quite understand it, but it's like people are describing themselves as being multiple people. There's the them that wants things, and the them that does things, as separate entities. The "wanter" is only briefly able to wrest control over what the "doer" does, mostly the "doer" has its own will which is not what the "wanter" wants, but something else. Sur…

I often respond to "you should do X" with "that's future Mats' problem, not me". Mostly in jest, as I with most big decisions are thinking longterm. But for those short term stuff, like emptying the dishwasher.. Meh, future me's problem.

Re: Show HN: Kommit – Web app to help you follow through with NY's resolutions

#22

Post by blowski » Thu, Dec 30, 2021, 12:41 PM UTC

marginalia_nu wrote: post #19

blowski wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My brain is dominated by one set of hormones and nervous impulses right now. Later today - perhaps when I’m more hungry, tired, horny, whatever - those hormones and nervous impulses will change. Another way of phrasing this. My computer is running a game smoothly, everything is good. Then I run off battery and open a Bitcoin miner in the background. Nothing about the game or computer hardware changed, but the perform…

> My brain is dominated by one set of hormones and nervous impulses right now. Later today - perhaps when I’m more hungry, tired, horny, whatever - those hormones and nervous impulses will change. This may be true, but it's about as useful as saying our behaviors and moods are controlled by the alignment of the stars. Neurochemistry just isn't something we experience directly, and as a model of phenomenology it isn't…

How I interpret your original comment is that you're saying "Jack is Jack is Jack, whether it's Monday morning and Jack is full of energy or Friday afternoon when Jack is tired and hungry. Thus, if Jack wants to lose weight on Monday morning, why would he need help to avoid binge-eating hamburgers on Friday afternoon?".

My answer to that is that Jack's brain is not in the same configuration on Monday morning as on Friday afternoon. Thus, Jack's Monday-morning brain makes a decision to lose weight, and guesses that Friday-afternoon Jack will likely ignore Monday-morning Jack's decision. So Monday-morning Jack also puts in place safeguards to prevent Friday-afternoon Jack deciding to ignore Monday-morning Jack.

Some people do have more willpower, and don't need that help. I'm not one of them, and it sounds like the OP is not either. History is full of self-help advice on this very topic - from Socrates, the Stoics, and Confucius to Jordan Peterson, David Allen, and our very own Paul Graham. So it does seem to be a very real problem.

Re: Show HN: Kommit – Web app to help you follow through with NY's resolutions

#23

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Dec 30, 2021, 12:54 PM UTC

marginalia_nu wrote: post #18

calmdown13 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hmm I'm not sure that that model is completely without merit. Of course we are responsible for all of our actions, however, we often act against our better judgement. In Jeff Hawkins' Thousand Brains Theory he describes that the neocortex is responsible for most of our cognition, but that it has to kind of bargain with the more instinctual "old brain" to get us to perform actions. It's quite possible he's wrong, it's…

> Of course we are responsible for all of our actions, however, we often act against our better judgement. Isn't this just a matter of confusion about what is in our best interest? When we act against our best interest, it's often because we fail to accurately gauge the outcome of our actions. We may postpone going to the dentist because it seems like a bad idea, or have a bunch of cake because it seems like a good i…

[deleted]

Re: Show HN: Kommit – Web app to help you follow through with NY's resolutions

#24

Post by codesections » Thu, Dec 30, 2021, 1:19 PM UTC

calmdown13 wrote: post #20

darrenf wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Beeminder[0] is another. I particularly like that they keep a list of competitors in this space[1] - active, up and coming, dormant or dead. OP, perhaps you could think about asking Beeminder to add you to their list :) [0] https://www.beeminder.com/overview [1] https://blog.beeminder.com/competitors/

Yeah Beeminder is cool, probably the best of the competing solutions that I found. One way I hope Kommit can add value, is that it doesn't require your commitment to be digital and there doesn't need to be an API integration (Beeminder is primarily based on API integrations). If you can prove your commitment with an image, video or text, your good to go. The downside is that nothing is automatic. Update: You can manu…

> (Beeminder is primarily based on API integrations)

This strikes me as a significant mischaracterization of Beeminder. I've used Beeminder for 5+ years[0] and I've never used an API integration — Beeminder supports manually entering data for any goal. (And basically none of my goals have been digital; I'm not sure where you got the impression that Beeminder exclusively targets digital goals).

[0]: https://www.beeminder.com/codesections/gallery

Re: Show HN: Kommit – Web app to help you follow through with NY's resolutions

#25

Post by codesections » Thu, Dec 30, 2021, 1:27 PM UTC

Beeminder[0] is a similar app — one that I've been a happy user of for 5+ years[1].

(Beeminder was also mentioned in a subthread reply by darrenf[2])

[0]: https://www.beeminder.com

[1]: https://www.beeminder.com/codesections/gallery

[2]: That reply read:

> Beeminder[0] is another. I particularly like that they keep a list of competitors in this space[1] - active, up and coming, dormant or dead. OP, perhaps you could think about asking Beeminder to add you to their list :)

> [0] https://www.beeminder.com/overview

> [1] https://blog.beeminder.com/competitors/

Re: Show HN: Kommit – Web app to help you follow through with NY's resolutions

#26

Post by hackandtrip » Thu, Dec 30, 2021, 1:29 PM UTC

Kudos for the donation to charity!

I wonder how the other for-profit in this space keep their business running, considering the amount of disputes that must come from users.

For example, I know that Stripe is very strict on the disputes percent[1]...

1 - https://stripe.com/docs/disputes/measuring#:~:text=Dispute%2....

Re: Show HN: Kommit – Web app to help you follow through with NY's resolutions

#27

Post by calmdown13 » Thu, Dec 30, 2021, 1:35 PM UTC

codesections wrote: post #24

calmdown13 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah Beeminder is cool, probably the best of the competing solutions that I found. One way I hope Kommit can add value, is that it doesn't require your commitment to be digital and there doesn't need to be an API integration (Beeminder is primarily based on API integrations). If you can prove your commitment with an image, video or text, your good to go. The downside is that nothing is automatic. Update: You can manu…

> (Beeminder is primarily based on API integrations) This strikes me as a significant mischaracterization of Beeminder. I've used Beeminder for 5+ years[0] and I've never used an API integration — Beeminder supports manually entering data for any goal. (And basically none of my goals have been digital; I'm not sure where you got the impression that Beeminder exclusively targets digital goals). [0]: https://www.beemin…

My bad, I thought the primary selling point was that it would would hook into the services you already use for tracking your commitment (Strava, GitHub, etc.). I am aware that you can manually enter some data but I didn't think there was any way to validate the data that you enter and I didn't think it was their focus.

Anyway, sorry for the misrepresentation. I will update my comment above to be more accurate.

Re: Show HN: Kommit – Web app to help you follow through with NY's resolutions

#28

Post by johnchristopher » Thu, Dec 30, 2021, 1:54 PM UTC

marginalia_nu wrote: post #15

johnchristopher wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OT: > I keep seeing hints of this strange model of the soul > I keep seeing hints of this strange Strange to you. I wish this way of framing questions would stop.

I call strange what is strange to me, as my experience is the only experience I have of the world.

> I call strange what is strange to me, as my experience is the only experience I have of the world.

There's a difference between "I keep seeing hints of this strange model of the soul" and "I keep seeing hints of this model I find strange". The first one heavily implies the model is strange and it's a fact, the conversation start with that premise and it puts people who do not find this model strange on the defensive. The second one clearly establishes this is a personal opinion.

Re: Show HN: Kommit – Web app to help you follow through with NY's resolutions

#29

Post by johtso » Thu, Dec 30, 2021, 2:05 PM UTC

marginalia_nu wrote: post #18

calmdown13 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hmm I'm not sure that that model is completely without merit. Of course we are responsible for all of our actions, however, we often act against our better judgement. In Jeff Hawkins' Thousand Brains Theory he describes that the neocortex is responsible for most of our cognition, but that it has to kind of bargain with the more instinctual "old brain" to get us to perform actions. It's quite possible he's wrong, it's…

> Of course we are responsible for all of our actions, however, we often act against our better judgement. Isn't this just a matter of confusion about what is in our best interest? When we act against our best interest, it's often because we fail to accurately gauge the outcome of our actions. We may postpone going to the dentist because it seems like a bad idea, or have a bunch of cake because it seems like a good i…

Acrasia. We severely discount things, positive or negative, that may happen a way off into the future. We struggle to make a "later problem" into a "now problem". The difficulty is that many of life's challenges require action over a period of time.

I also think, speaking from personal experience, our minds have an amazing ability to avoid thinking about things that are difficult or unpleasant. This can mean that we neglect to do things we should be doing (or do the things that cause us harm) not because those things are infact actually okay behaviours, but because we're not even thinking properly about the consequences. We're just doing.

Re: Show HN: Kommit – Web app to help you follow through with NY's resolutions

#30

Post by johnchristopher » Thu, Dec 30, 2021, 2:08 PM UTC

marginalia_nu wrote: post #10

I keep seeing hints of this strange model of the soul, I don't quite understand it, but it's like people are describing themselves as being multiple people. There's the them that wants things, and the them that does things, as separate entities. The "wanter" is only briefly able to wrest control over what the "doer" does, mostly the "doer" has its own will which is not what the "wanter" wants, but something else. Sur…

> I don't quite understand it, but it's like people are describing themselves as being multiple people.

> Surely we're just one person.

Maybe your interpretation of people having conflicting behaviors as "describing themeselves as being multiple people" is wrong.

You jump from unchallenged absolute positions to another to basically conclude or imply that people are not being honest.

For most the self is a very moving concept and the inner dialogue and tensions add layers of definitions. We are not single thought and logical and permanently coherent creatures.