People don't feel the difference between importance and engagement. Engagement is its own reward. People who feel engaged on a topic can reward themselves by s

People don't feel the difference between importance and engagement. Engagement is its own reward. People who feel engaged on a topic can reward themselves by simple repetition. They can skip the hard work of criticism, straight to the finish line. Importance is the result of active filtering. What is it that must be filtered out? Engagement. Who would truly want to filter out their own rewards? This is where we find a parallel with addiction: people who practice this short reward loop struggle to leave it, but people who don't practice tend to have an easy time avoiding the loop entirely.