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0375 - Deadpan co-operation. - 2024.12.09 |
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Comment: As ever, Lee is a weathervane, changing their opinions, their attitude, and their personality based on whatever they think they should be doing or whatever they think will get them what they want, moment by moment, impulse by impulse. Even with neurochemical augmentation taken into account, there's an ebb and flow of cortisol, adrenaline, serotonin, oxytocin, etc, that have a far greater effect on Lee's mood swings than any chain of logic or desired goal. All of which is to say that Lee has little to no "willpower". Now, yes, "willpower" is a myth of sorts, a way that the socially, financially, and neurochemically gifted justify their successes (and justify punishing the unsuccessful). "Willpower" simply doesn't exist. Of course, similar things could be said of "morality" or "justice" or "love" or "consciousness", and we do need to pretend that those abstractions are meaningful in order for civilization to function, so perhaps we can do the same here with "willpower". What would help Lee develop greater willpower? What would a Lee Caldavera with willpower look like? I would argue that "willpower", in this case, could effectively be a synonym for "inertia". Lee could accomplish a great deal more and be a much more stable person if they could simply maintain their attention and their feelings about a given subject for a longer period, regardless of whether new thoughts or stimuli come into play. The Lee weathervane swivels in the mildest of breezes because it has little to no mass, and therefore does not maintain a stable trajectory of any sort, and would have almost no impact even if it somehow did arrive at its destination. Yes, I know weathervanes typically do not leave the rooftop to which they are fastened and do not have impact on targets, my metaphor is wonky, pretend I said they're a plastic bag or something. And yes, I realize that having too much inertia would also be bad, as it would prevent them from changing their mind or adapting to new circumstances. There is such a thing as too much focus, after all, particularly when one's own wellbeing is not the thing being focused upon. I think it's obvious that Lee has no inertia because that's how they've been trained by years of being waited on hand and foot, where the primary activity they think of as their "job" (or even their "purpose") has been reacting emotionally to 22-minute servings of hyperactive hyper-real fantasy fiction. Lee is good at shifting their emotions and priorities and allegiances because that's what they've been doing on that green couch there (and, afterwards, on the blue couch) day after day, for most of their formative young adulthood. It's the inevitable end result of chasing constant entertainment - falling off the end of the hedonic treadmill, no longer able to exert effort to travel in new directions on any other less-optimized surface. Presumably, someone somewhere likes and trusts Lee's media reviews, and appreciates their steadfast dedication to the five-star system. Let's hope they're not disappointed that Lee hasn't uploaded any new barsoomaboo reviews for about 48 hours now. |
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