James Ratcliff wrote:
There is a needed distinctintion that must be made here about hunger
as a goal stack motivator.
We CANNOT change the hunger sensation, (short of physical
manipuations, or mind-control "stuff") as it is a given sensation that
comes directly from the physical body.
What we can change is the placement in the goal stack, or the priority
position it is given. We CAN choose to put it on the bottom of our
list of goals, or remove it from teh list and try and starve ourselves
to death.
Our body will then continuosly send the hunger signals to us, and we
must decide what how to handle that signal.
So in general, the Signal is there, but the goal is not, it is under
our control.
James Ratcliff
That's an important distinction, but I would assert that although one
can insert goals "above" a built-in goal (hunger, e.g.), one cannot
remove that goal. There is a very long period when someone on a hunger
strike must continually reinforce the goal of not-eating. The goal of
"satisfy hunger" is only removed when the body decides that it is
unreachable (at the moment).
The goal cannot be removed by intention, it can only be overridden and
suppressed. Other varieties of goal, volitionally chosen ones, can be
volitionally revoked. Even in such cases habit can cause the "automatic
execution of tasks required to achieve the goal" to be continued. I
retired years ago, and although I no longer automatically get up at 5:30
each morning, I still tend to arise before 8:00. This is quite a
contrast from my time in college when I would rarely arise before 9:00,
and always felt I was getting up too early. It's true that with a
minimal effort I can change things so that I get up a (nearly?) any
particular time...but as soon as I relax it starts drifting back to
early morning.
Goals are important. Some are built-in, some are changeable. Habits
are also important, perhaps nearly as much so. Habits are initially
created to satisfy goals, but when goals change, or circumstances alter,
the habits don't automatically change in synchrony.
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