3 ms·
Convenience (instant reward) is to humans, what light is to bugs.
by sebastianconcpt 3y ago
Convenience (instant reward) is to humans, what light is to bugs.
- BiteCode_dev 3y agoThat's a very poignant analogy. Especially since we all looked down on bugs for being so stupid to die burnt on a lamp.
- sebastianconcpt 3y agoPrecisely. That's why "a good life" is better understood as a long term optimization of the game of games. Reminding that capacity for delayed gratification is a predictor of success as it can provide better overall balance in that game of all games when compared with optimal instant gratification only.
- ulrikrasmussen 3y agoI love this analogy. Not only is it a good analogy, the underlying mechanisms causing bugs to be drawn to light and humans to be drawn to instant gratification are both results of our biology and evolution through thousands of years of life before modern civilization, and both can have really devastating outcomes in modern society.
- mcpackieh 3y agoMy understanding is that bugs are not actually drawn to light, but rather attempt to fly at a fixed angle to light, roughly perpendicular to it. When the light is the Moon, that keeps them flying in more or less a straight line. But when the light is close to them, they turn to keep the light at that fixed angle and consequently spiral in towards it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transverse_orientation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transverse_orientation