https://pluralistic.net/2024/05/11/for-you/#the-algorithm-tm
'Like Oscar Wilde, "I can resist anything except temptation," and my slow and
halting journey to adulthood is really just me grappling with this fact,
getting temptation out of my way before I can yield to it.
Behavioral economists have a name for the steps we take to guard against
temptation: a "Ulysses pact." That's when you take some possibility off the
table during a moment of strength in recognition of some coming moment of
weakness:
https://archive.org/details/decentralizedwebsummit2016-corydoctorow
Famously, Ulysses did this before he sailed into the Sea of Sirens. Rather than
stopping his ears with wax to prevent his hearing the sirens' song, which would
lure him to his drowning, Ulysses has his sailors tie him to the mast, leaving
his ears unplugged. Ulysses became the first person to hear the sirens' song
and live to tell the tale.
Ulysses was strong enough to know that he would someday be weak. He expressed
his strength by guarding against his weakness. Our modern lives are filled with
less epic versions of the Ulysses pact: the day you go on a diet, it's a good
idea to throw away all your Oreos. That way, when your blood sugar sings its
siren song at 2AM, it will be drowned out by the rest of your body's
unwillingness to get dressed, find your keys and drive half an hour to the
all-night grocery store.'
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
