Book Summaries
Chapter 3: The Lazy Controller
P.40 – to maintain a coherent train of thought and engage in effortful thinking requires self control. the frequent switching of tasks and speeded up mental work are probably not intrinsically pleasurable -we will avoid them when possible. That is how the law of least effort came to be a law.
P.40 – to maintain a coherent train of thought and engage in effortful thinking requires self control. the frequent switching of tasks and speeded up mental work are probably not intrinsically pleasurable -we will avoid them when possible. That is how the law of least effort came to be a law. Even without time pressure, the systematic avoidance of sustained effort, by repeatedly checking email or the contents of the fridge, suggests that the mind has an urge to escape the activity.
But thankfully, some types of cognitive work are not so aversive. And people sometimes expend considerable effort for a long time without having to exert willpower – that is what Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi called Flow.
Note: when I write on Hans, I experience this especially.
P.41 – There are 2 forms of effort: concentration on the task and deliberate control of attention. Flow neatly separates the two. playing chess, riding. Motorcycle at 150 miles an hour are effortful but require no exertion of self control when in flow.
P.48 – what makes some people more susceptible to biases of judgement? See book Rationality and the Reflective Mind
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