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Culture War Roundup for the week of July 8, 2024

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So either we are now alleging domain-specific willpower

Are you alleging that sustained work on any goal is equally easy as any other goal for every single person?

Based on my experience I am much better at being focused on some tasks, much worse on some other and my willpower as far as not eating myself to death seems to be a bit above average.

it doesn’t appear that there is any experience an obese human can have that will reliably result in weight loss

There is also no experience that will reliably make people honest, reliable, punctual, less rude, not wasting their life on computer games etc.

Nevertheless, keeping asshole tendencies in church and not being habitually late is partially function of willpower.

Keeping yourself away from drugs and slot machines is also function of willpower, complete destruction of regulation here for some people does not change it is function of willpower.

People are complicated, influencing them reliably is hard. It is hardly novel.

And yes, consistently eating less will make you less fat.

If willpower as a behavioral control mechanism can apply to very sophisticated longterm social goals (like running Amazon, being George Foreman) then we should expect that it would be applied where the costs and benefits are especially salient, your weight. Their ability to control their will should apply to food, even if that is a “skill” that must be practiced. Musk and Foreman are good at practicing skills, right? And common sense tells us they have noticed their obesity. Or how about the recent photo of Bronze Age Pervert, the one who praises self control and a beautiful body? Yet all these people are fat. This needs to be explained and not “it’s Just So stories all the way down”ed.

There is also no experience that will reliably make people honest […]

I disagree with that. I think social environment and social learning can improve upon that

Keeping yourself away from drugs and slot machines is also function of willpower

Sure. We should also imprison for life the satanists who make money off of online phone-based gambling. Then send their children and grandchildren to a remote island. Where they can —

consistently eat less

And therein lies the 250kcal BBQ dry rub. Yes, they eat. Why are they compelled to eat more than their expenditure when others are not?