I appreciate the honesty and thoughtfulness of the post, and I think the diagram illustrates your point beautifully. I do worry, however, that thinking of human will in this diagrammatic sense understates the human ability to affect their own will. None of us act in manners that are 100% EA; this point is obvious and needs not be rationalized. All we can do is constantly strive to be more like true EAs. My psychological intuition is that this has to be a gradual, in-the-moment process, where we take EA opportunities when they come up instead of planning which opportunities we think are consistent with our will. Taking your will as a given which you then need to act around could in this way be counterproductive.
Note that the y-axis is extrapolated volition, i.e. what I endorse/strive for. Extrapolated volition can definitely change—but I think by definition we prefer ours not to?
In that case I’m going to blame Google for defining volition as “the faculty or power of using one’s will.” Or maybe that does mean “endorse”? Honestly I’m very confused, feel free to ignore my original comment.
I appreciate the honesty and thoughtfulness of the post, and I think the diagram illustrates your point beautifully. I do worry, however, that thinking of human will in this diagrammatic sense understates the human ability to affect their own will. None of us act in manners that are 100% EA; this point is obvious and needs not be rationalized. All we can do is constantly strive to be more like true EAs. My psychological intuition is that this has to be a gradual, in-the-moment process, where we take EA opportunities when they come up instead of planning which opportunities we think are consistent with our will. Taking your will as a given which you then need to act around could in this way be counterproductive.
Note that the y-axis is extrapolated volition, i.e. what I endorse/strive for. Extrapolated volition can definitely change—but I think by definition we prefer ours not to?
In that case I’m going to blame Google for defining volition as “the faculty or power of using one’s will.” Or maybe that does mean “endorse”? Honestly I’m very confused, feel free to ignore my original comment.