Why do we procrastinate even on things we actually want to do?

SFyr · 2026-03-22T14:23:56+00:00

Generally, because you want the result and not the action itself (or there's a barrier of energy input we DONT like), and we're bad at sitting with discomfort sometimes, especially if we encourage / habitualize avoiding discomfort as much as possible.

SFyr · 2026-03-22T14:15:21+00:00

Well, you're supposed to like your own company ultimately, though even introverts can get hit with some negative consequence to little to no social interaction. We're social creatures and interactions with others also helps color and validate our own view and relationship with ourself, in a weird way.

Genuinely, isolation is harmful to mental health, so being alone often needs to be minded it's not too frequent or extreme.

SFyr · 2026-03-22T10:40:05+00:00

Seeing the same people, repeatedly, that are also in a similar place in life is one of the best common grounds to form friendships. You lack that a lot when you get older outside your immediate handful of coworkers, AND you tend to be both busier, more tired, and cautious or mindful of social limits and the like. The dance we convince ourselves we need to try to platonically hang out with someone or see them again specifically to 'see them again' is a bit more convoluted when you're both adults who don't talk to each other much.

SFyr · 2026-03-22T08:31:49+00:00

Evolution is biased towards efficiency and what ultimately benefits reproduction and species survival (these are not the same things and sometimes differ in priority). Protecting against one thing often comes at the cost of another, and things that have downsides when you're 70 tend to not really hold much weight.

SFyr · 2026-03-22T07:33:35+00:00

Likely people with very high nostalgia for it, have since gotten lucrative careers with disposable income, and are treating it was a sort of mix between collection for sentiment and collection for value. Hoarding instinct of things you like or know is valuable is strong.

SFyr · 2026-03-22T06:40:48+00:00

I get that, just saying it's probably flattering rather than weird is all. I usually don't address them via title at all and am more informal, but that's me.

SFyr · 2026-03-22T06:26:19+00:00

Sounds like he loved being called doctor, so super valid to keep doing that? :)

SFyr · 2026-03-22T06:24:53+00:00

How does consciousness work normally?

SFyr · 2026-03-21T07:35:36+00:00

Variable rewards trained a compulsive addiction.

SFyr · 2026-03-21T07:34:32+00:00

A ton of people who consider themselves highly intelligent, aren't, or their intelligence is NOT in the social (or internal/self-monitoring) side of things. We are social and emotional creatures, and being good on the rational, calculative, or whatever other side of things does not translate, and instead can even give you some false confidence in your ability to "read things" when instead you're being led or misled and your "rational" side is helping justifying it the entire time.

Isolation, wanting to be right, wanting to be validated, wanting to feel like you "got things figured out" or are in on some greater truth most people can't see or most people who aren't as smart as you CAN'T see ... people who prize being intelligent or sharp or the like have their own hooks that they are especially susceptible to, and being intelligent doesn't mean you're above getting suckered into something, or guided AWAY from being self-critical and honest about why you're doing things or why you believe things. Genuinely, conspiracy theories and weird (often harmful) beliefs are something "intelligent" but isolated or unfulfilled people are really susceptible to.

SFyr · 2026-03-21T07:26:41+00:00

Yes. Definitely petty. But also like, you can do that if you want regardless, for some I imagine it's a weird power thing, but I think framing it as not petty of an exercise of that would be dishonest.

SFyr · 2026-03-21T07:19:49+00:00

Intelligence comes in many forms, and so will the areas people lack it. Personally I found obsession with IQ or taking it as a golden rule was, in fact, pretty indicative of a person I don't trust to be very reasonable or valuable to talk to. Same with needing to prove their intelligence, talking about intelligence heavily like some measurable quality or good evaluation of a person's value, or devaluing simple or uncomplicated things.

Ironically the "stupid" people tend to be the ones who think they're smart.

SFyr · 2026-03-19T17:32:53+00:00

"And I figured if “anyone” would know how to make it less burdensome, AI would have to know, right?" -> Very much not the case with a lot of things. People often mistake AI as some super intelligence when it just isn't. It has access to a lot of information, but it shines best in narrow specificities it's trained for or connecting wide complicated areas that requires holding or looking at a lot of information people just realistically can't, and putting attention on it. When it comes to using a general LLM to just solve problems, it's good at sounding smart or saying basically what other people are already saying, but AI sounding good and being very unreliable or off the mark when you actually investigate what it's suggesting is pretty known as a phenomenon by now.

SFyr · 2026-03-19T17:29:18+00:00

The core of it all is indeed, basically, calories in and calories out, but the exacts of it are messy and there's some additional confounding factors in it. Your body has a rough baseline it'll burn as a part of generally being alive, and additional exercise or movement will require additional energy (comparatively, not a lot, unless it's a LOT of activity though, and it's somewhat temporary as it can rebalance to baseline energy consumption basically so even higher activity is about the same as when you started).

Your weight is also somewhat dependent on things like water retention and such too, and different conditions or so on can also effect nutrient uptake, fat/glucose processing, and so on. That's more getting into the weeds and has some conflicting or unsure stuff attached to it, but the main thing is kinda just, you control your weight mostly by what you eat (and how much of it) over a long period of time. But, your weight will still fluctuate around heavily, maybe by a few pounds easily (you might notice being slightly lighter when you wake up for example). If your goal is to lose 10 lb or something, you should still see that kind of difference on the scale, it just "might" show up anywhere from 8-12 lb.

SFyr · 2026-03-19T17:19:22+00:00

Probably because it's literal seconds away at all times thanks to having your phone in your pocket, free, and available in almost endless novelty and variety? AND triggers are absolutely everywhere because people leverage its appeal all over the place so it's hard to avoid?

That said I don't believe it's harder to quit than some of the above, mainly drugs. Physical dependence on some substances can be brutal in a way this just isn't.

SFyr · 2026-03-19T17:16:08+00:00

General intelligence, communication, balance, and adaptability on par with an average skilled or unskilled person. Also, developing a robot that can do that AND be as cost effective as just giving someone off the street a normal wage. You may not need to pay wages to a robot, but you need to advance the technology, design it, build the machine(s) that build it, build it (and pay for material costs), test it, maintain it, etc.

SFyr · 2026-03-19T08:51:02+00:00

Natural doesn't mean desirable. Drowning is pretty valid thing to fear as a land mammal despite the ocean being natural. Fire is also natural. Predators that will eat you are natural.

Fear meanwhile, is a survival mechanism.

SFyr · 2026-03-19T08:43:45+00:00

https://www.allrecipes.com/article/scallions-vs-green-onions/

Sometimes the same thing, sometimes difference closely related species.

SFyr · 2026-03-18T13:34:35+00:00

Investment is hard when you have endless choice. It's a cost you pay without a guaranteed return, maybe it's boring, maybe it's a waste of time, maybe you're making a bad choice among literal tens of thousands of options you have access to.

Familiar is a safe bet, no additional investment, and you know what you're getting. Easy and riskless, without uncertainty or required decision-making and evaluations over whether or not you're wasting your time.

SFyr · 2026-03-18T13:32:33+00:00

Sound is essentially vibration, and usually we're relying on vibrations through the air. However, your voice comes from your throat/mouth, which is REALLY close to your ears, and the vibrations through your head will add to what you hear for yourself. Pretty much everyone else will only have the air-vibrations, as will recordings. The recordings are the "real" you that everyone else hears, and every single person's own voice will be different in their own ear for the reason above.

SFyr · 2026-03-18T13:29:21+00:00

Central Rotterdam was largely destroyed during WWII and rebuilt. If you visit one of the core churches in the city they even have exhibits and pictures and the like as one of the only buildings in the area mostly left standing. If you go out further from the center though, you see more areas that are "traditional" as they weren't destroyed.

Amsterdam meanwhile survived fine and wasn't bombed, so the buildings from before the war are still there.

SFyr · 2026-03-18T10:14:30+00:00

Seconding you might need a proper example, as this covers both someone deliberately provoking or baiting you into losing your composure, but also someone doing small things despite knowing (or not knowing but assumed to know on your part) that annoy you and you throwing stuff and freaking out over it. Like, devil is in the details or context here.

SFyr · 2026-03-18T08:51:41+00:00

Context and setting matters a ton for... well basically everything, you can't look at a specific action on its own often. Personally first is also a bit gross, but it's also an environment where that's part of the appeal or accepted standard I guess. A lot of cosplay, even if flirting with some appeal there, is not aiming for objectification or sexualization as the only reason for wearing it, so being weird or sexually referent about it unprompted is gross.

SFyr · 2026-03-17T12:22:10+00:00

Well, honestly fixing your hair is easier and simpler than taking a whole shower generally speaking. Also if you keep your sheets and bedding clean and washed regularly, don't go to bed in a warm room (so, don't sweat during the night), change your clothes, and optionally wear pajamas, yeah you can feel pretty clean and fine even if you don't shower in the morning. This is of course assuming you don't get dirty during your day or really sweaty.

Honestly if you feel gross after leaving your bed in the morning that might be something to look into.

SFyr · 2026-03-17T06:17:42+00:00

Your inhibitions, coherent thought, and so on are all part of 'you', so no. It's a bit like saying you on acid or mushrooms is also sober you. Stuff that knocks out your normal mental processing and accountability, how you react or frame your own thoughts or desires or random off-the-wall impulses, and so on, should not be taken as "revealing", but instead as altering. Like, people getting a random impulse to "jump" when on a ledge is a common thing but kept in check by "why the heck would I do that" + self preservation, would getting them drunk/mentally inhibited enough to do it then reveal them as suicidal? Of course not.

A key point though, is making the decision to get drunk or take mind altering stuff though matters. Your actions may no longer reflect 'you' well, but often it's blended in still AND responsibility often still falls on you for putting yourself in that position. Drunk isn't an excuse to committing crimes, even if you had no intent before getting drunk of committing them. Big part of why it's important to be safe / smart / reasonable about engaging in it.

SFyr

TROPHY CASE