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Jan. 19th, 2002 02:43 amWhy do we do things that we know are bad for us? My current squabble with Orson over the level of rationality in human behavior has got me thinking about it again. I've thought about it a fair bit over the years because I'm rather an oddball in this respect. Orson says that it's because people don't think rationally about their decisions. It seems to me that what we eat and what we do is almost completely dependant on what we _want_ to do and has very little to do with what we're told we ought, even if that someone's ourselves.
I drink, smoke and eat junk food pretty much exactly as much as I want to, it just happens to be pretty much nil. Maybe someone who ingests these things in varied quantity is neither less rational than I, nor inferior to me in other respects, they're just a different person who wants these things. Sadly, I don't really think I've rationally decided to have a healthy lifestyle at all, that just happens to be who I am. Given my rational druthers, I would actually eat much healthier and exercise more, but my efforts in this direction are slow and often meet with little success, just like most everyone else. It took years to quit eating meat, more if you count the years it took to even try. If Alan had continued to eat meat, maybe I never would have made it. If my experience is typical, changing one's diet or exercise habits is not a matter of making rational decisions, but actually requires one to become a different person. A Herculaen task by anyone's measure.
It's funny, I can almost feel myself changing sometimes. Almost like the Incredible Hulk or something. Whenever I make myself do something I'm not inclined to through force of will, I can almost feel my seams straining. I hadn't thought about it so much in that context before, but trying to be the parent that I want to be gives me that feeling often. Truely a transfiguring experience.
I drink, smoke and eat junk food pretty much exactly as much as I want to, it just happens to be pretty much nil. Maybe someone who ingests these things in varied quantity is neither less rational than I, nor inferior to me in other respects, they're just a different person who wants these things. Sadly, I don't really think I've rationally decided to have a healthy lifestyle at all, that just happens to be who I am. Given my rational druthers, I would actually eat much healthier and exercise more, but my efforts in this direction are slow and often meet with little success, just like most everyone else. It took years to quit eating meat, more if you count the years it took to even try. If Alan had continued to eat meat, maybe I never would have made it. If my experience is typical, changing one's diet or exercise habits is not a matter of making rational decisions, but actually requires one to become a different person. A Herculaen task by anyone's measure.
It's funny, I can almost feel myself changing sometimes. Almost like the Incredible Hulk or something. Whenever I make myself do something I'm not inclined to through force of will, I can almost feel my seams straining. I hadn't thought about it so much in that context before, but trying to be the parent that I want to be gives me that feeling often. Truely a transfiguring experience.
