Yeah yeah, life is meaningless, there is no freedom of will and nothing makes sense. I know all that.

Seriously though, everyone bar some completely mentally handicapped people has some willpower. You can use that willpower to build your willpower. What's the problem?

I'm sure it is possible to develop attraction to fat chicks to a certain degree. Hell, you yourself just wrote a nice long inspirational post about it.

Haha, do you mean beetroot? Beetroot is the ONLY food that I can't stand.

Life isnt meaningless, and most things make sense. I'm not sure this is really about free will either. I just want you to be clear. Your claim is that you can build your willpower if you find you dont have enough. I'm asking you what skill is required in order to build willpower....because it seems to me the answer is willpower. If your argument is "You can build more willpower, you just need more willpower" can you see how I might have trouble just accepting that without question?

You are correct, everyone BELIEVES that willpower is somehow different from "natural athletic ability." If we were having this discussion in a bar, you would win the popular vote hands down. But its my contention that this whole nonsense breaks down VERY quickly, and I think we've done a good job of showing why. It doesnt deteriorate to nihilism. It just deteriorates to "willpower is a skill just like blue eyes and natural inborn athletic ability." I understand why this makes a bunch of people very uncomfortable, and thats why it elicits the responses it does, i.e. "ZOMG if you believe that you are a nihilist" as seen above.

But it doesnt have to be like that. Dont worry you can still blame fat people for their misfortune if that makes you feel better.

Yes I think that was a bad example. Attraction to fat chicks, liking tomatoes, and losing weight are all analogous. They are the end results. The process is will power. I wrote a nice long inspirational post about me utilizing my willpower to make (modest) changes in my life. But I didnt use my willpower to increase my willpower. I already had enough to accomplish what I wanted. Someone might have the necessary willpower to develop an attraction to fat chicks, but that guy aint me. And its too bad, I'd love to be attracted to everyone (everyone that its legally and morally responsible to be attracted to anyhow). But I cant do it, and not for lack of trying.
Not sure, the dark red/purple squishy nasty slimy things?

I guess one more way to look at it is that the amount of willpower that people have is dependent on the extent to which they believe willpower is in their own hands or are pressured by other people.

I can see it but I'm not impressed. You need money to get a job. You need to be at a tolerable condition to do excercise. You need an economy to improve the economy. There is no problem with this self-reference.

Yes. It's not about them being squishy and slimy though. It's just the flavour. To me it's a bad flavour. Just bad. I can eat it. But it tastes genuinely bad.

I had asked people to answer the four questions of my original post. Vihawk01 replied.

Thank you for your post. It was not at all a hijack. On the contrary, it was right on target. It also demonstated that the internet and, more importantly to me, this forum are NOT just for nitfests and flamewars. This forum and the others at this website are primarily for helping each other.

Regards,

Al

- Exactly. Perfectly put and right on point.

Everything is natural inborn. Willpower can produce more willpower (or shortcuts to artificial willpower). Sure. But its a ridiculous debate since the bottom line with everything as we know it, is that every action, every thought, every physical process is predetermined by the conditions of the start of all times. Cause and effect in a (neverending?) chain.

So I think we all know that vhawk01's and vantek's above posts are nothing but thinly veiled bad "beet" stories. Sorry I couldn't resist.

AW

lulz