November 21, 2011
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So what you probably mean is, “I intend to do school to improve my chances on the market”. But this statement is still false, unless it is also true that “I intend to improve my chances on the market”. Do you, in actual fact, intend to improve your chances on the market?

I expect not. Rather, I expect that your motivation is to appear to be the sort of person who you think you would be if you were ambitiously attempting to improve your chances on the market… which is not really motivating enough to actually DO the work. However, by persistently trying to do so, and presenting yourself with enough suffering at your failure to do it, you get to feel as if you are that sort of person without having to actually do the work. This is actually a pretty optimal solution to the problem, if you think about it. (Or rather, if you DON’T think about it!)

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PJ Eby, LessWrong