HACKER Q&A
📣 calebm

Can you choose your desires?


Would you agree with this statement: "I am free to choose my actions, but I am not free to choose my desires"?


  👤 ftxbro Accepted Answer ✓
In my opinion it depends how broadly 'desires' is defined. You could use your freedom to choose your actions to build a system that Pavlov's you toward or away from some specific things, but it wouldn't let you escape the underlying 'I'm addicted to dopamine' drive that is underlying any agentic entity. This question is interesting not just from behavioral science or psychology perspective but also from AI perspective.

👤 PaulHoule
Partially. Certainly your desires can change over time.

👤 pestatije
Define desire - in anorexia, for example, is the victim choosing his desire to not eat, or is he not eating despite desiring it, or something else