Craig, > That point did not appear until now, but let's consider it. > We all have preferences. I prefer ski area X. Then I try a new ski area Y. > Before I didn't consider scenery important, but Y is so beautiful that > I now prefer Y to X. That's my choice--it wasn't already a preference.
Steve: Preferences change, but not at your will. Your example doesn't work. You didn't set out to will a new specific preference and attain the new preference by mere force of will as requested. Though it is good practice to put ourselves in situations where our preferences may be changed and hopefully improved. Do you prefer chocolate or vanilla? Ok, now will yourself to prefer the other. Close your eyes and concentrate really really hard. While you are at it, see if you can believe 8 impossible things before breakfast. It's the same issue. You can't will yourself to believe something that you believe to be false, and you can't by mere force of will prefer something you don't prefer. (Beliefs are a type of preference in the MOQ.) > [Craig, previously] >> I prefer Italian food to Chinese food. The former just tastes better; >> I didn't choose it to taste better. >> But my wife is allergic to cheese, so when we go out to dinner, >> I prefer to go to a Chinese restaurant. That preference I do choose. [Steve] >> Please demonstrate your free will by willing a change in some such >> preference. > > Done. I just told my wife that tonight I prefer going for an Italian dinner. You can tell your wife anything you want. But if you prefer Italian food to Chinese food, you cannot by force of will make yourself prefer the reverse. That doesn't mean that your preferences will never change. They could change upon encountering new information like your wife's allergy or having new experiences. They just don't change as a matter of squinting your eyes and focussing really really hard on changing them as matter of willing them to be so. If we could do that, you could just choose to be satisfied with what you have. You only have a 19 inch TV which totally sucks when you are watching sports? So just will yourself to believe that a 29 inch TV is preferable to your brother's 55 inch plasma. Good luck with that, Craig. Maybe you could will yourself to stop behaving like such a dick, but you could only hope to do so if you'd already prefer not to be one (which is not at all clear to me). Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org/md/archives.html
