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Chris Lakin (post 2026-07-28) argues that genuine, deep progress is visible when…

2026-07-28 · 15:06 UTC ·@chrislakin ·1 min read

Brief

Chris Lakin argues genuine progress shows itself when untargeted problems vanish: for example, alumni told him they stopped watching YouTube 5 hours/day a few months ago after his work, even though he’d refused bounty projects on doomscrolling. He values effortless, no-willpower changes and warns that willpower-driven "breakthroughs" are often flaky; Ben Landau-Taylor corroborates this skepticism, claiming ~90% of sudden epiphanies revert within a week.

Why it matters

Chris Lakin (post 2026-07-28) argues that genuine, deep progress is visible when problems you never targeted stop occurring — a sign outcomes have been internalized rather than forced.

Key details

  • He cites alumni reports that they “stopped watching YouTube 5h/day a few months ago” after his work, despite him previously refusing bounties to remove doomscrolling or ‘addictions’.
  • Lakin prefers outcomes that occur effortlessly (without willpower) because willpower predicts flaky breakthroughs; Ben Landau-Taylor (@benlandautaylor) adds that ~90% of proclaimed psychological epiphanies revert within a week.
Source evidence

One way to measure genuine, deep progress is when problems you never targeted stop happening

For example, until recently I’d almost never accepted bounties on deleting doomscrolling or ‘addictions’ — I thought my research couldn’t help with these, so I refused. Then late last year alumni started telling me “oh yeah, I stopped watching YouTube 5h/day a few months ago, thanks” (my reaction: “wait you used to what??”)

My preferred measure of progress is when desirable outcomes occur effortlessly, without willpower. It’s too easy to overfit otherwise. Willpower predicts flaky breakthroughs

Ben Landau-Taylor (@benlandautaylor)

I’ve known many people who announced some big psychological epiphany that cured their trauma and fixed their deepseated issue. In ~90% of cases their personality was completely unchanged a week later once they calmed down. I’ve seen a few real ones but I ignore the self-reports.

— https://nitter.net/benlandautaylor/status/2081809559707131915#m