Comments on: chiang’s LOOP http://www.chizang.net/alex/blog/2005/12/12/chiangs-loop/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chiangs-loop infinite spew Wed, 08 Feb 2012 11:21:36 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: victor http://www.chizang.net/alex/blog/2005/12/12/chiangs-loop/comment-page-1/#comment-243 victor Tue, 13 Dec 2005 19:30:19 +0000 http://www.chizang.net/alex/blog/?p=307#comment-243 Well, first of all I'd like to say that I like your theory, and I definitely followed it to the t when dealing with papers and cleaning rooms. I also still follow it now when I have a big project to do for work (putting a presentation book together). Instead of making any progress on it, I will instead organize my desk. The second thing I'd like to say is that I am probably the biggest procrastinator I know. Except, of course, for my friend Natedogg who just graduated undergrad last year. He was 26. (All he had to do was pass this one French class to fulfill our school's foreign language requirement. He had five chances to take it in the past two years. He failed it three times and one time, he failed to even sign up.) (Another side note: I have nine of these presentation books to do before the year's end. And I'm writing this.) So I have a few minor responses. >(side note: much like Newtonian physics which breaks down at the quantum scale, LOOP may suffer the same shortcomings when dealing with very small values of X0, such as cleaning your room. On a larger scale, such as "remodel your kitchen", LOOP certainly does apply. I leave this issue for future procrastination researchers to explore.) I think with small values of X naut, it's a matter of pure laziness. You'll do whichever Xnaut that requires the least combination of physical and mental effort. For some people who abhor anything physical, such as moving, the tasks that require more mental effort than physical will probably win out, and vice versa. Of course, if the Xnauts are too small, then fuggit, the procrastinator's not going to to anything! >Let's say that you have to write a paper for school. The typical college student would define this task as X0 and waste hours playing spider solitaire or perhaps Snood (or I suppose text messaging your buddies if you're a young hipster in this day and age). However, if the student kept another task in reserve as a trump X0, such as "declaring a major", "finding a summer internship/job", or "paying off student loans", all of a sudden, writing that paper doesn't seem so bad. I somewhat disagree with you here. Declaring a major, finding an internship/job, etc. may be considered larger X nauts because 1) these are considered the big picture, the reason why you're writing this paper for class and 2) they may involve more work (research, paper work, etc.) However, I don't think that these two reasons can classify something as a bigger X. I think it's a matter of which one you hate more. I.e., I really, REALLY HATE papers, and in college/high school, I can think of many times where I postponed any attempt at progress on my paper(s) in lieu of researching potential colleges/internships/employment. Maybe what I'm trying to say is that you should define the size/intensity of an X by how much you hate it, which can actually be a relationship between the amount of physical and mental effort the task requires and your resistance to performing such physical and mental effort. Keep in mind that not all physical and mental effort are the same (3 hours of mowing your lawn is different than say, chopping down a tree in your backyard even if both would consume the same amount of calories.) Ugh, back to these damn presentation books. Maybe... Well, first of all I’d like to say that I like your theory, and I definitely followed it to the t when dealing with papers and cleaning rooms. I also still follow it now when I have a big project to do for work (putting a presentation book together). Instead of making any progress on it, I will instead organize my desk. The second thing I’d like to say is that I am probably the biggest procrastinator I know. Except, of course, for my friend Natedogg who just graduated undergrad last year. He was 26. (All he had to do was pass this one French class to fulfill our school’s foreign language requirement. He had five chances to take it in the past two years. He failed it three times and one time, he failed to even sign up.) (Another side note: I have nine of these presentation books to do before the year’s end. And I’m writing this.)

So I have a few minor responses.

>(side note: much like Newtonian physics which breaks down at the quantum scale, LOOP may suffer the same shortcomings when dealing with very small values of X0, such as cleaning your room. On a larger scale, such as “remodel your kitchen”, LOOP certainly does apply. I leave this issue for future procrastination researchers to explore.)

I think with small values of X naut, it’s a matter of pure laziness. You’ll do whichever Xnaut that requires the least combination of physical and mental effort. For some people who abhor anything physical, such as moving, the tasks that require more mental effort than physical will probably win out, and vice versa. Of course, if the Xnauts are too small, then fuggit, the procrastinator’s not going to to anything!

>Let’s say that you have to write a paper for school. The typical college student would define this task as X0 and waste hours playing spider solitaire or perhaps Snood (or I suppose text messaging your buddies if you’re a young hipster in this day and age). However, if the student kept another task in reserve as a trump X0, such as “declaring a major”, “finding a summer internship/job”, or “paying off student loans”, all of a sudden, writing that paper doesn’t seem so bad.

I somewhat disagree with you here. Declaring a major, finding an internship/job, etc. may be considered larger X nauts because 1) these are considered the big picture, the reason why you’re writing this paper for class and 2) they may involve more work (research, paper work, etc.) However, I don’t think that these two reasons can classify something as a bigger X. I think it’s a matter of which one you hate more. I.e., I really, REALLY HATE papers, and in college/high school, I can think of many times where I postponed any attempt at progress on my paper(s) in lieu of researching potential colleges/internships/employment. Maybe what I’m trying to say is that you should define the size/intensity of an X by how much you hate it, which can actually be a relationship between the amount of physical and mental effort the task requires and your resistance to performing such physical and mental effort. Keep in mind that not all physical and mental effort are the same (3 hours of mowing your lawn is different than say, chopping down a tree in your backyard even if both would consume the same amount of calories.)

Ugh, back to these damn presentation books. Maybe…

]]> By: jakek http://www.chizang.net/alex/blog/2005/12/12/chiangs-loop/comment-page-1/#comment-242 jakek Mon, 12 Dec 2005 14:00:40 +0000 http://www.chizang.net/alex/blog/?p=307#comment-242 brilliant, though i find your judo chops suspect. although they work in theory, i must remind you that communism also works in theory. as someone well versed in the fine art of procrastination i've found that if a large forboding task is avoided by interjecting a different task that is also on par in terms of crappyness, the human mind chokes, stalls, and is forced to idle for the next few days. instead of wrestling one of those unfavorable tasks you would instead do something completely pointless, such as spending three hours digging out your old 8 bit nintendo just so that you can play contra a few times. all in all a truly inspired theory, and i must commend you on your use of subscripts. brilliant, though i find your judo chops suspect. although they work in theory, i must remind you that communism also works in theory. as someone well versed in the fine art of procrastination i’ve found that if a large forboding task is avoided by interjecting a different task that is also on par in terms of crappyness, the human mind chokes, stalls, and is forced to idle for the next few days. instead of wrestling one of those unfavorable tasks you would instead do something completely pointless, such as spending three hours digging out your old 8 bit nintendo just so that you can play contra a few times. all in all a truly inspired theory, and i must commend you on your use of subscripts.

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