3 ms·

Fascinating. It shows the importance of having a consistent blood sugar level, especially when we are around expensive food choices. At the same time, it seem

by nshelly 10y ago

Fascinating. It shows the importance of having a consistent blood sugar level, especially when we are around expensive food choices. At the same time, it seems that we could use fasting (resulting in a low blood glucose level) as a motivation to work hard if we know that work will get us more food.

dietrichepp 10y ago
The results also showed that people had less patience, even when working for food.
XorNot 10y ago
Except work doesn't get us more food. I have a dollar on me, I know I can get a lot of sugar right now with that.
- derefr 10y ago
  I've always wondered how productive I could be if I handed my access to spending money, plus a list of food I like, over to a trustee, and then told them to buy me food but only give it to me right as I finish things I care about. It seems like it would create some pretty strong conditioning effects.
  - manmal 10y ago
    You sure have to hate yourself to do that. Reminds me of some cruel scifi novels.
  - TeMPOraL 10y ago
    Until you slip up - because e.g. you gave yourself too big a quantum of work to do before your next reward, or something unexpected popped up that you need to deal with ASAP. Then you'll find yourself tired, hungry, frustrated and in a downward spiral - because you'll be quite likely making mistakes sabotaging your work instead of making progress, thus putting off your eating time further in the future. And I'm not talking out of my ass; I screwed myself a few times like that with the whole "precommitment" idea, including losing quite a bit of money - instead of helping me focus, this only stressed me out further as I was desperately thin on funds. Not saying precommitments are a bad idea, just make sure you can handle failures mentally before going full-Klingon on them.
    - derefr 10y ago
      Note the "food I like" part. I imagine that I could have a pantry full of Mealsquares or something similar (a nutritionally-complete but not-"tasty"-as-such food), and pots of black coffee, to keep me going monotonously until I managed to finish my work. The reward is the rich, fatty, sugary, salty, umami-y food; not food at all.

by nshelly 10y ago

dietrichepp 10y ago

The results also showed that people had less patience, even when working for food.

XorNot 10y ago

Except work doesn't get us more food. I have a dollar on me, I know I can get a lot of sugar right now with that.

derefr 10y ago
I've always wondered how productive I could be if I handed my access to spending money, plus a list of food I like, over to a trustee, and then told them to buy me food but only give it to me right as I finish things I care about. It seems like it would create some pretty strong conditioning effects.
- manmal 10y ago
  You sure have to hate yourself to do that. Reminds me of some cruel scifi novels.
- TeMPOraL 10y ago
  Until you slip up - because e.g. you gave yourself too big a quantum of work to do before your next reward, or something unexpected popped up that you need to deal with ASAP. Then you'll find yourself tired, hungry, frustrated and in a downward spiral - because you'll be quite likely making mistakes sabotaging your work instead of making progress, thus putting off your eating time further in the future. And I'm not talking out of my ass; I screwed myself a few times like that with the whole "precommitment" idea, including losing quite a bit of money - instead of helping me focus, this only stressed me out further as I was desperately thin on funds. Not saying precommitments are a bad idea, just make sure you can handle failures mentally before going full-Klingon on them.
  - derefr 10y ago
    Note the "food I like" part. I imagine that I could have a pantry full of Mealsquares or something similar (a nutritionally-complete but not-"tasty"-as-such food), and pots of black coffee, to keep me going monotonously until I managed to finish my work. The reward is the rich, fatty, sugary, salty, umami-y food; not food at all.