hal@finney.org wrote:
> [To avoid typing "want to want" a great deal, I will use the abbreviation
> W1 for "want", W2 for "want to want", W3 for "want to want to want", etc.]
>
> Does it make sense to differentiate what we "want to want" (W2) from
> what we "want to want to want" (W3)?
>
> I can see differentiating simple wants (W1) from W2s. I W1 to overeat,
> to lie around and read, to indulge various other bad habits. At the
> same time I W2 to avoid these things and spend my time on things that
> will be more rewarding in the long term. But the role of "W3" is unclear.
>
Hal, don't you think that W3 are your basic values? Isn't it W3 that says to you what those "more rewarding" things are? What if you could push a button and make overeating and those other things seem like holy sacraments? I suggest that after you pushed the button, you would be a different person. In the future you will be presented with a large array of such buttons. Should the person that you are be uploaded, the array of such buttons becomes almost unlimited, as does the speed of button pushing. This is why I often ask, "What do you upload, when you upload?"
-Ken