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Scott explains how thoughts and intentions are reinforced separately from actions, using B.F. Skinner's concept of "mental behavior" to show why people often intend to do things but never actually do them.
Scott discusses the neuroscientific split between 'wanting' and 'liking', showing how wireheads might not actually be happy, and explores the troubling implications this has for economics, philosophy, and AI alignment.
Scott argues that the 'Cynic's Theory of Akrasia' (which says people's actions reveal their true preferences, contradicting their stated preferences) is functionally equivalent to the naive theory, just valuing unconscious over conscious preferences, and defends prioritizing conscious preferences because they're rational and morally informed.