I assume it's a combination of feeling the same way if they just sent eachother feel-good stickers, and involving AI for... some reason.

That is correct. It's basically saying that you made an effort when you didn't.

Personally I don’t want to see any image generated by AI as it is just all fluff and adds no value. A simple text saying you did the thing would be sufficient

my partner would lose so much respect for me if I did that. and that respect was hard-won, she had a mediocre dude as a longterm ex (the type who would probably send LLM-generated achievements) and basically had to remap her base expectations to fit me being minimally pro-active and emotionally regulated

Citation not required; the premise is not required to be true because the conclusion is independently verifiable (albeit overstated): "we’ve built an ecosystem for ourselves that is predatory to every single one of our desires and weaknesses"

But I'm not sure the attention economy is different in this respect from civilization's traditional franchises: the hope and protection rackets run by religion, governments, militaries, businesses, etc. We've been trading beer for labor in the oldest recorded history and probably before. But how would understanding that help?

So: not "citation needed", but back to TFA: can {proposal-x} help liberate people from predation (and self-destruction)? It's fruitless to wish there were no predatory human systems or realize everyone's out to get you; the question is how to cope.

The commenter is suggesting that counter-programming might not be the answer to programming. I would go on to suggest deprogramming, reducing the reactivity of any reward system, and then targeting the deepest values. Traditionally this is occasioned by failure (as a lesson) or getting old (heeding the older wise elders), or breaking the ego (in recovery, severe trauma (war, moral injury), etc.) so it's mostly a no-go zone, but in rare cases of excellent therapy or practice or great relationships one can make progress.

Tracking systems (joyful or otherwise) I think help not in the day-to-day reward hacking (any drug results in resistance) but to give a concrete picture of the value of time and habit: when I well and truly realize how little I do actually contributes to my/y/our future, I am motivated to really look backwards from the future.

I dunno man.

I have never felt what people describe endorphin rush to feel like. Or runners high or anything remotely like it.

I'm almost 40. I had a pretty physically active childhood through my 20s, and I just never remember ever feeling good afterwards. It's very important for me to keep exercising to avoid diabetes, but I struggle mightily to make myself keep doing it nowadays because it is miserable to me

No one can really explain that to me. A lot of "maybe it's this, maybe it's that" but no help fixing it so I can motivate myself to keep doing the work

It sucks. I have a lot more empathy for the "I just can't make myself do it" crowd than I used to. There's a missing circuit in my brain or something and there's no brain mechanic to fix it.

If you don't get the endorphins afterwards, that sure sounds like not being wired to enjoy exercise.

I for one know I don't enjoy the benefits - not enough to trigger any reward loop anyway. It's a known limitation for me, making it hard to consciously form habits in general. Many people have this.

(It's probably a matter of degree as well as kind - in my case, whatever the intensity/delay critical threshold is, it's sufficiently low to allow functioning, but high enough that exercise doesn't stick.)

> I honestly think nobody enjoys the exercise itself. The real motivation is second order effects like becoming more appealing to other people.

I imagine some must; sensitivity to second-order effects as a drive is arguably a circuit known to not be present in many people - I'd go as far as speculating that it's an anomaly to have it.

> I honestly think nobody enjoys the exercise itself. The real motivation is second order effects like becoming more appealing to other people.

I, actually, do enjoy the exercise itself. Although, it doesn't prevents me from procrastinating going to the gym and being in terrible shape.