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Comment by nilskidoo | Hacker News Reader

Whether self-consciously or subconsciously willpower is our only tool for getting out of bed and getting things started. This writer is a buffoon and a sadist. So many necessary value judgements are entirely dependent on the will. Like whether or not to embrace abolitionism.

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I don't think will is required for people to not be pieces of shit, that doesn't make sense. You can learn the information "keeping slaves is bad, because it hurts people" but the concept of will does not fit into that equation. Or are you just trying to say that you would have slaves if willpower didn't exist?

What part of controlling your impulses in order "to not be pieces of shit" "doesn't make sense"?

So after learning not to hurt others, do you have impulses to do so? Before you learned not to hurt others, did you act on those impulses? Do you even remember? information is constantly being checked against previous learned experiences, when your mother told you it was not okay to hit someone this became one of those experiences. it isn't some magical "willpower" or "free will"

Don't conflate willpower and free will. Willpower is the prefrontal cortex's ability to "resist current urges for future benefit". It's a tested scientific concept. Willpower is absent in people with a damaged prefrontal cortex and is weakened in sleep deprived, stressed, hungry people.

I think what you're trying to refer to is the ability of the prefrontal cortex to send inhibitory signals to the amygdala. This should not be considered "willpower" because that term implies we have control over it, as was discussed in the article. By these definitions free will and willpower are essentially the same non existent phenomena.

"This should not be considered "willpower" because that term implies we have control over it, as was discussed in the article."

I gave the accepted definition of willpower above. The author trying to redefine the term doesn't make it so.

It's like the author trying to say that endurance is the same as free will, because free will can dictate whether or not you train it.

There is the understanding that people are just the result of their genes and environment - this is common sense. Then there is trying to say that willpower doesn't exist at all - it does, and it's medically defined.

Maybe if you had some willpower yourself you may better understand what freedom really means.

I wouldn't relate willpower to subconscious decisions. To me, it's about a conscious effort to refrain from acting on impulses.

With that being said, conscious effort is not always required to get out of bed in the morning. What if you're stressed out for an exam and you just automatically get out of bed to study a few minutes more? What if you're fully rested or hungry, so that you've no internal debate about whether you should get up or not?

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