cloudz wrote:Dimitri,
have you ever wanted to change something about yourself that was very difficult. It takes willpower. It takes changing of daily habits and instincts.
Hey George,
That's the "illusion" part. It absolutely
feels like you're making a decision (to push yourself, persevere, etc.)
Our company used to have this "Fitbit stepping challenge" thing and I saw people react to it in a vast variety of ways, from barely registering it on the radar to, in one notable case, changing one's lifestyle dramatically, and for good (he hasn't reverted to old behavior still, after 8 years, and I don't think he ever will). I don't have the exact data of course, but I would presume that this variance wasn't a function of having (or not) enough will power. There are plenty of people who know that exercise is good for them, or that they should eat better, or what-have-you, who have tremendous will power, and yet they're not using it to improve their lives.
Why?
Here's another thought, from a different direction: have you thought about the exact moment when a human becomes capable of "making a decision"? We start as a collection of cells that are dividing by a strict program and reacting to outside influences based on chemistry, temperature, EM field levels, etc., etc., turning eventually from a couple of cells into an embryo, a fetus, etc. At which point we (can) "make s choice"? Let's say, a 2-year-old can make one, but a two-weeks-old cannot. What - and more importantly, when - was that moment in time when this presumed qualitative change took place, that turned us from collections of dividing cells into philosophers?
To me, that's a rhetorical question, because we never stopped being those collections of dividing cells driven by programming (genetics) and outside factors. We just grew in complexity, with a side effect of a "self-aware" mind.
But that's just me... How would you answer that one?
It's easy to forget how subconscious we are sometimes.
Indeed!