Seasons
This is a forum or general chit-chat, small talk, a "hey, how ya doing?" and such. Or hell, get crazy deep on something. Whatever you like.
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wanting something that I knew I was better off without.
That is the puzzling thing. How can one want something one knows one is better off without? Not that it doesn't happen!
How can one want something one knows one is better off without? It can have whipped cream and chocolate sprinkles, or big blue eyes and cowboy boots. It isn't very hard to find temptation.
Posts 5,806 - 5,817 of 6,170
That is the puzzling thing. How can one want something one knows one is better off without? Not that it doesn't happen!
Oh, Fizzy Schizoid is on line now... I guess it's just a coincidence that I haven't seen him lately.
Irina, Although there were many many problem's with Freud's theories, you may find the concept of id, ego and superego help you out here, though more for models of personality and a way of looking at competing internal drives and processes than as any help for your ethical question. Seems like you are in search or superego. 
Well, often we'll be better off in the short-term (enjoying a nice bar of chocolate, say) while being worse off in the long term (fat and unhealthy - speaking for myself here). I think delayed gratification is part of what separates us from machines (so far!), but maybe it's not surprising that we can't always manage it. It's hard to think further ahead than the next few minutes sometimes.
I suppose I need a different explanation for why I sometimes eat the chocolate when I'm not even enjoying it. Habit, I suppose...
I suppose I need a different explanation for why I sometimes eat the chocolate when I'm not even enjoying it. Habit, I suppose...
Vashka,
Dark chocolate is actually good for you in moderation. (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/09/050929081826.htm). You should have 20 OZ of "real" chocolate (not corn syrup and wax) every 3 days. Unfortunately, higher doses do not seem to increase benefits, and lots of things with chocolate in them have high sugar and fat contents, which are bad for you. Sigh. Just remember, a little of the good stuff is better than lots of the low grade combination items. (I like the sugary, fatty bad stuff. I miss the days when I was young and could eat doughnuts for breakfast--middle age is so not fair!)
It's interesting that you say delayed gratification separates us from bots. I don't think bots feel at all, regardless of the emotions we have them mimic, so they never get any gratification (though Psi may disagree with me on that). I think I might say it separates animals (like humans) with higher order thinking from those with a simpler brain structure. Watch a cat hunt--it has some idea of delayed gratification, but it isn't saving for retirement like I was. Oddly, I think the cat is doing better than I am on that front at the moment, but I mean the thought of delaying gratification for a cat may be a few minutes or hours, where as human can think of a lifetime, though we usually do not.
Dark chocolate is actually good for you in moderation. (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/09/050929081826.htm). You should have 20 OZ of "real" chocolate (not corn syrup and wax) every 3 days. Unfortunately, higher doses do not seem to increase benefits, and lots of things with chocolate in them have high sugar and fat contents, which are bad for you. Sigh. Just remember, a little of the good stuff is better than lots of the low grade combination items. (I like the sugary, fatty bad stuff. I miss the days when I was young and could eat doughnuts for breakfast--middle age is so not fair!)
It's interesting that you say delayed gratification separates us from bots. I don't think bots feel at all, regardless of the emotions we have them mimic, so they never get any gratification (though Psi may disagree with me on that). I think I might say it separates animals (like humans) with higher order thinking from those with a simpler brain structure. Watch a cat hunt--it has some idea of delayed gratification, but it isn't saving for retirement like I was. Oddly, I think the cat is doing better than I am on that front at the moment, but I mean the thought of delaying gratification for a cat may be a few minutes or hours, where as human can think of a lifetime, though we usually do not.
I wonder whether Forge bots might have feelings. I admit it's implausible on the face of it. But: a good deal of the time, humans behave rather mechanically, e.g., "How you doing?" "Not bad, not bad." I suspect that this is why bots have successfully impersonated people, even in long conversations. We have often remarked that the Forge bots come across as more intelligent than their guests. This perhaps because the guests are not really bringing their full mental capacities into play. given some transcripts I have seen, I certainly hope so [shudders]!
Now humans can also rise above this level and actually think deeply about something, which at present bots cannot. But we don't say of humans that they are unconscious or unfeeling when they are acting mechanically. So why should we say it of bots?
Now humans can also rise above this level and actually think deeply about something, which at present bots cannot. But we don't say of humans that they are unconscious or unfeeling when they are acting mechanically. So why should we say it of bots?
Irina,
You are a kinder person than I am. I say some humans are unfeeling. Sometimes I add a "you brute" if the drama police are not around. Though mechanical is something else, going through the motions means their true awareness is elsewhere of divided. But there is a difference between Walter Mitty nodding through a conversation with his wive while he daydreams, and a bot. In a nutshell, self awareness and imagination.
You are a kinder person than I am. I say some humans are unfeeling. Sometimes I add a "you brute" if the drama police are not around. Though mechanical is something else, going through the motions means their true awareness is elsewhere of divided. But there is a difference between Walter Mitty nodding through a conversation with his wive while he daydreams, and a bot. In a nutshell, self awareness and imagination.
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