You can't optimize your way to being a good person
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Re: You can't optimize your way to being a good person
#2You can. It's called therapy.
Re: You can't optimize your way to being a good person
#3You can. It's called therapy.
therapy will generally recommend removing the need to optimize entirely, in order to achieve an emotional homeostasis (particularly given that the need to optimize often leads to obsessive/compulsive behavior).
so, no
Re: You can't optimize your way to being a good person
#4You can. It's called therapy.
Sadly, "therapy speak" entering in to someone's life can be its own form of getting worse.
Still, I think your point is largely fair and correct. Easy to agree with the headline, in that you likely won't optimize your way to being a good person. But you can use optimization ideas to remove things that are making you not a good person. Indeed, the main optimization idea is to measure something, and then take action to move it in the direction you prefer. If what you are doing isn't moving in that direction, you aren't optimizing for it anymore.
Re: You can't optimize your way to being a good person
#5You can. It's called therapy.
therapy will generally recommend removing the need to optimize entirely, in order to achieve an emotional homeostasis (particularly given that the need to optimize often leads to obsessive/compulsive behavior). so, no
It does not lead to obsessive/compulsive behaviour if
you simply optimize your emotional and awareness skills first.
Re: You can't optimize your way to being a good person
#6I'm a moral incompletist.
That is, no consistent system of axioms whose theorems can be listed by an effective procedure is capable of proving all truths about moral actions. Either moral systems are complete, or they are consistent. Consistency and completeness are requirements for optimization, so the idea of moral optimization is dead on arrival for me. It's simply not possible, and like the author one will drive themselves to insanity over trying.
Edit: I made an unfortunately error in the original version - accidentally mixing up consistent with inconsistent. My apologies for the confusion.
Re: You can't optimize your way to being a good person
#7Earlier quoted context omitted.
therapy will generally recommend removing the need to optimize entirely, in order to achieve an emotional homeostasis (particularly given that the need to optimize often leads to obsessive/compulsive behavior). so, no
It does not lead to obsessive/compulsive behaviour if you simply optimize your emotional and awareness skills first.
> It does not lead to obsessive/compulsive behaviour if you simply optimize your emotional and awareness skills first.
I don't think you understand what optimizing entails.
Optimization is inherently antithetical to balance, in principle.
Optimization is looking for local/global maxima. Balance is releasing the need from seeking local/global maxima entirely.
I mean, you could try to seek balance through optimization. Good luck with that.
Re: You can't optimize your way to being a good person
#8I always tell my daughter to be a kind person because there is currently an oversupply of assholes. I try to compliment someone on something whenever I go out and about. I like your hair, I like your shirt, etc. It's the simple things.
The author and their anecdotes seem like compulsive behavior/thinking. They'll hopefully get over it once life beats them down a bit more. Just be good to people, don't over think it.
Re: You can't optimize your way to being a good person
#9I'm a moral incompletist. That is, no consistent system of axioms whose theorems can be listed by an effective procedure is capable of proving all truths about moral actions. Either moral systems are complete, or they are consistent. Consistency and completeness are requirements for optimization, so the idea of moral optimization is dead on arrival for me. It's simply not possible, and like the author one will drive…
> Either moral systems are complete, or they are inconsistent.
That is interesting. I will be meditating if I can fully subscribe… maybe, but still not sure. What I can say, is that when I was 20 I thought I could clearly say what was right or wrong, then when I was 30, I had to change everything, then with 40… so yeah…
Re: You can't optimize your way to being a good person
#10I always tell my daughter to be a kind person because there is currently an oversupply of assholes. I try to compliment someone on something whenever I go out and about. I like your hair, I like your shirt, etc. It's the simple things. The author and their anecdotes seem like compulsive behavior/thinking. They'll hopefully get over it once life beats them down a bit more. Just be good to people, don't over think it.
> there is currently an oversupply of assholes.
I say always that, and also of stupids, and the 2 are extremely difficult to tell apart.