Comment by criley | Hacker News Reader

Comment by criley | Hacker News Reader

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Coma? Narcolepsy?

It seems like you're pulling out all the stops to avoid the uncomfortable point: the vast, vast majority of us are normal and don't have a convenient excuse for our poor sleep habits.

>If you wake up having hit a snooze button that you didn't consciously push, is that your fault?

Absolutely. 1000%. Move your alarm. Hide it. Make it not turn off until you do math problems. Have a friend call you. Set your computer to set off such an unholy alarm that your neighbors will hear. Buy one of those alarm helicopters that flies around the room until you catch it. Do what you have to do.

It is your responsibility and yours alone to wake up early enough to meet the obligations that you made for yourself.

Period.

There is a subtler point to be made that is (perhaps unintentionally) hinted at by the author of this article and sp332. At what point does a disruptive, repetitive, and persistent behavior go from being simple laziness or irresponsibility to a "disease"? If you believe that the mind is a purely physical thing and therefore that all behavior is the result of the body's composition and environment, then the only thing you can do is draw a line somewhere and call one group of behaviors "disease" and the other group "irresponsibility."

>It is your responsibility and yours alone to wake up early enough to meet the obligations that you made for yourself.

For myself? Sure. But why should I feel beholden to other people's schedules like the article says?

When you accept a job, or a meeting invite, you are making an explicit committment to a work schedule or an appointment. That is a personal committment that you chose to make. If you sleep through it, you failed your committment and should feel like it.

I think we're agreeing :)

You're not. Go live amongst the trees and be a beautiful independent spirit and write a great American novel.

All this author is saying is that if you CHOOSE to make commitments and then fail to honor them, you're not an awful person, but yes you should feel guilty for that. On that, I agree.

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