Epistemic status: Toy model. Oversimplified, but has been anecdotally useful to at least a couple people, and I like it as a metaphor.

Introduction

I’d like to share a toy model of willpower: your psyche's conscious verbal planner “earns” willpower (earns a certain amount of trust with the rest of your psyche) by choosing actions that nourish your fundamental, bottom-up processes in the long run. For example, your verbal planner might expend willpower dragging you to disappointing first dates, then regain that willpower, and more, upon finding a date that leads to good long-term romance. Wise verbal planners can acquire large willpower budgets by making plans that, on average, nourish your fundamental processes. Delusional or uncaring verbal planners, on the other hand, usually become “burned out” – their willpower budget goes broke-ish, leaving them little to no access to willpower.

I’ll spend the next section trying to stick this [...]

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Outline:

(00:17) Introduction

(01:10) On processes that lose their relationship to the unknown

(02:58) Ayn Rand's model of “living money”

(06:44) An analogous model of “living willpower” and burnout.

The original text contained 2 footnotes which were omitted from this narration.

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First published:
November 16th, 2024

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/xtuk9wkuSP6H7CcE2/ayn-rand-s-model-of-living-money-and-an-upside-of-burnout

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.