“Solving willpower seems easier than solving aging” by Yair Halberstadt

I'm awake about 17 hours a day. Of those I'm being productive maybe 10 hours a day.

My working definition of productive is in the direction of: "things that I expect I will be glad I did once I've done them"[1].

Things that I personally find productive include

• Chores
• Work
• Eating
• Cooking
• Reading a good book
• Watching TV with my Wife/Kids
• Playing with the kids
• Socialising with friends

But not

• Doomscrolling
• Watching TV alone
• Playing most computer games
• Sitting on the couch doing nothing
• Reading a book I'm not particularly interested in

etc.

If we could find a magic pill which allowed me to do productive things 17 hours a day instead of 10 without any side effects, that would be approximately equally as valuable as a commensurate increase in life expectancy. Yet the first seems much easier to solve than the second - we already have [...]

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First published:
March 23rd, 2025

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/8Jinfw49mWm52y3de/solving-willpower-seems-easier-than-solving-aging

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.