[Tichy]

Somehow I tend to lean towards a softer interpretation towards people: so I would assume there might be other factors at play, for example with the guy who watches Netflix instead of writing his apps. Perhaps he subconsciously doesn't believe in his success? In general, I think the only way to cure an addiction is to replace it with something better. That is why often alcoholics and drug addicts seem to recover by becoming ultra religious ("better" being subjective, but it fills the void). Instead of looking down on people without self-control, why not try to help them find something better or motivate them?

Of course with a lot of self-control maybe the app guy would just sit down and write the apps. But can self-control then not also backfire? At other times HN is flooded with articles about failing early enough or being prepared to change course. Self control would prevent that and therefore make you less adaptive (at least one possibility).

As for the kids with Marshmallows experiment, yeah, I've heard about it, the guy also wrote a bestseller called "Emotional Intelligence" (notice he is good at marketing). But how many kids did he test? Has it been repeated? And maybe it was other factors - perhaps the kids not taking the Marshmallows were more intelligent and had already learned that Marshmallows are bad for you. Perhaps kids from families with higher socioeconomic status feed less candy to their kids, so the kids craving for candy less were already from better backgrounds. (Not saying that is the explanation, just saying there could be lots of factors at play besides self-control. Personally, I never liked Marshmallows, not even as a kid...).

[knowledgesale]

The question here is not whether we should look down on people with certain traits but to find out what makes a person effective.

It is not about judgment, it is about studying the interaction between human traits and the society.

As for the critique of the experiment, proper screening and appropriate statistical analysis allow to rule out these factors.

Just read the research paper for yourself http://www.columbia.edu/cu/psychology/metcalfe/Old%2520Lab%2...

[Tichy]

Link doesn't work, unfortunately. Hope to get around to reading it eventually :-/

I actually assume it was a good study, but still, what is self-control? It seems a rather fuzzy thing, if measured by marshmallow craving. It might be too simplistic to reduce things to it.

[berntb]

>>Perhaps he subconsciously doesn't believe in his success?

Maybe the guy watching movies is trying to relax?

I used to have bad self insight into how worn out I was. Now I try to listen to my body and take it easy when needed.

Sooo... Today I exercised. Tomorrow I'll watch Pan's Labyrinth, which I just bought on Bluray. And I won't read up on a few class libraries I want to learn more than seeing that movie again... :-)

Edit: I should write out the point simpler: Maybe the guy has a bad year/decade for some reason beyond his control (family, health, stress, etc).