Action: how do you REALLY go about doing?

post by DDthinker · 2024-12-29T22:00:24.915Z · LW · GW · 0 comments

Contents

  The topic of action
  Summary of subtopics
    Principles of action
    Areas of action
  Review of ideas
  Concluding remarks
None
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We usually go about our lives distracted by the mundane and everyday details of the most pressing situations we have to contend with in life. Some however may examine philosophy and some of the fundamental questions it currently offers but even then I believe we probably don't give much thought to the foundations of this philosophical knowledge and get distracted by details. One of the most fundamental questions any person can ask I feel is the question "how do you really go about doing?" in which by really I mean to say what are the real foundational and fundamental ideas of doing which may not have been systematically examined in our distraction towards details. This question is about the topic and subject of all 'action' in which in this post I'll discuss my ideas for action which has been adapted from my ideas of 'action philosophy' of my magnum opus 'WAK11'.

The topic of action

The topic and subject of action which has the question "how do you really go about doing?" is partially answered in existing fields of philosophy of ethics which deals with moral action and particular actions such engineering of various kinds which are covered by applied sciences. Beyond moral action and particular action however there are more aspects of action which can be topics of study that can be systematically encompassed such as principles of the action of 'thinking' or principles of the action of 'problem solving'. The systematic organisation of knowledge is crucial for understanding knowledge in which the knowledge can be organised by topics where the topic of action can have subtopics which themselves have nested further subtopics where nesting of topics can be seen in biology having nested the topic and field of genetics. To conclude, the greater topic of action is of fundamental importance for any actor and has nested subtopics.

Summary of subtopics

The topic of action has subtopics which can be generally organised into general 'principles of action' and general 'areas of action'. 'Principles of action' gives generally applicable ideas of how action can be thought of and understood while 'areas of action' gives particularly applicable ideas of how certain types of actions can be understood which represent particular areas and ranges of activity of action. This organisation can be seen in existing fields where ethics relates to principles of action while applied sciences relates to areas of action although my designations of principles of action and areas of action are more fundamental and relate to philosophy rather than science.

Principles of action

The subtopic of principles of action, which state generally applicable ideas of action, has further subtopics which are the following:

• .cosmic actor perspective - the cosmic actor perspective states "we are fundamentally actors in the cosmos which think and act based on cosmic situations and what we value in priorities" which gives the most fundamental perspective that all actors should take I feel
• .action theory - action theory are ideas for understanding how action mechanistically works. Action works via sensed situations prompting the doing of actions with imagined consequences. There are types of action such as simple and complex actions and actions can be optimised to achieve certain consequences better.
• .prioritised action - how action can be prioritised to be good and moral where priorities determine what is good and moral (this encompasses ethics). Priorities can be directed towards various focused things such as the self/individual, other individuals, or the world in what I call the 'priority focuses'. Another idea is 'universal goodwill' which states "any empathetic being regardless of time and space directing their care towards any and all other empathetic beings that are suffering regardless of time and space" which can be seen as a generalisation of longtermism of future beings considered for goodwill
• .cosmic situation - understanding situations the actor (such as yourself) is in. Cosmic situations can be general such as if god exists or if we exist in a simulation or more local such as earthly situations we find ourselves in. Knowing likely cosmic situations are integral for proper action e.g. knowing the situation of AI's potential is important to consider

Areas of action

The subtopic of areas of action, which gives particularly applicable ideas for certain types of actions, has further subtopics which are the following:

• .the action of thinking - the action of thinking can be studied and have principles e.g. techniques of thought of first discussing then definitively laying out, distilling, and consolidating ideas where key ideas from discussions are picked out and listed in a technique I call 'frameworks'
• .the action of doing - the action of doing can be studied and have principles e.g. maintenance vs progressive doing such as seen in maintaining systems while trying to progress to better systems
• .prioritised activities - certain areas of activity can be have actions focused on prioritised things (per the idea of priority focuses) such as 'individual focus activities' which are personal activities such as regarding personal possessions, activities involving friends and family or other individuals, and world focus activities that benefit the world (such as seen in effective altruism)
• .problem solving - problem solving can be studied and have principles. An important principle I developed is the 'general problem solving process' (the 'GPSP') which firstly has 'problem understanding' where firstly problems are understood, 'solution understanding' where secondly solutions are understood, and 'solution implementation' where finally problems are addressed by solutions

Review of ideas

In this post I discussed a summary of my ideas however my full ideas have many developed, detailed, and refined principles in my magnum opus WAK11 which details how the subtopics can be understood in greater detail. Nevertheless I think the blueprint I've presented which discusses the topic of action, or what I more properly call 'action philosophy', is very important and should be placed prominently in regard to all knowledge where it is foundational for all knowledge as knowledge of action. Action philosophy (the topic of action) is both foundational and implicit in which it's more foundational than the philosophical field of ethics which it subsumes and most people haven't bothered to explicitly state the principles of my action philosophy as it's seen as trivial however I'd argue there is value in making it explicit and rigorous as it allows for a more solid foundation for all of action related knowledge. Regarding the application of my ideas, everyone I feel should find my ideas of action useful and all action can be made better. All action should heed action philosophy and as such it's very important.

Concluding remarks

The ideas of action philosophy I've discussed in this post are only a summary of a part of all my ideas where my other ideas have similar importance and quality to the ideas of action philosophy. If you're interested I've made a long but accessible text which is a sample of all my ideas which covers action philosophy as well as my theory I call 'structure selection' which is called "Hiding in plain sight: the questions we don't ask" (link here [LW · GW]) and details fundamental questions relevant to a cosmic actor (such as yourself). In regard to my situation and why I'm presenting you my ideas, I'm an amateur thinker who is wishing to popularise and spread my ideas and is outside the intellectual community so I'm in need of help in spreading my ideas so if you're feeling generous I'd like to ask for help from any of you reading to spread my ideas.

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