5 ms·
That's not really what I was getting at. My point was that those that do quit <vice> deserve the roughly the same amount of praise as a tall person deserves for
by ux-app 10y ago
That's not really what I was getting at. My point was that those that do quit <vice> deserve the roughly the same amount of praise as a tall person deserves for being tall.
Why did they have the motivation to give up? Not through some personal moral superiority, but rather it was encoded in their genes. How much control did they have over this encoding? None.
- sn9 10y agoI feel like both you and the person you responded to failed to read the article. And you seem to be completely ignoring the environmental factors involved in behavior, which are much more significant than those involved in height (e.g., avoiding malnourishment during the first 20 years of your life). The article mentioned a few of them.
- ux-app 10y agoI'm actually fully in agreement with the article. I just thought I'd chime in with personal view as this idea of will power and moral judgement is extremely pervasive in society. We have, for the most part, only vague control over our actions, wants desires etc. from the article: "The best way forward may be to let go of “willpower” altogether. Doing so would rid us of some considerable moral baggage. Notions of willpower are easily stigmatizing: ... An extreme example is the punitive approach of our endless drug war, which dismisses substance use problems as primarily the result of individual choices." I don't see substance abuse as an issue of moral weakness. It's simply a pre-encoded genetic predisposition. From this it directly follows that those that avoid vices and lead healthy lives also don't deserve any special credit. They are doing it because their genes dictate it. You are, for the most part, along for the ride, good or bad.
- sn9 10y agoRight, but that's still ignoring the environmental component which throws a wrench into your reasoning. Particularly relevant from the article is the part of reframing the problem as a means of kicking addiction. Obviously, this isn't a silver bullet, but it's also part of the evidence against this notion of genetic determinism as predominant factor. (We're in agreement regarding the whole moralizing aspect of this.)
- tzakrajs 10y agoHow about you read HN rules first before accusing people of not reading the article.
- sn9 10y agoI made sure to qualify my comment in case I was mistaken.
- dev24333344 10y agoA person cannot change his height but can build miscles or will power through practice. It is not a genetic constant.
- dev24333344 10y agoA person cannot change his height but can build miscles or will power through practice. It is not a genetic constant.