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Simplifying Relationships Simplifying Relationships

A concise guide to dealing with other people, living your best life and connecting in disonnected times.

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Simplifying Relationships
Simplifying Relationships

A concise guide to dealing with other people, living your best life and connecting in disonnected times.

Intermittent Reinforcement

jodyandrews, August 2, 2024August 2, 2024

Reinforcement learning is the idea of being able to assign credit or blame to all the actions you took along the way while you were getting that reward signal.
-Jeff Dean

Experiments in learning found if they consistently rewarded a rat with a pellet every time they pressed a lever, they had a contented rat. If the rat never got a pellet, the rat moved on. However, if they gave only an occasional pellet at random, the rat would stay – obsessively pressing the lever in the hope of an eventual reward. It is the same premise used in gambling, newsfeeds and social media. Our devices are like pellet dispensers, generating a sense of anticipation, excitement and desire. Anyone in our lives can act as a dispenser – employers, friends, family, and partners, intermittently dispensing whatever it is we desire – love, connection, belonging, admiration, security. It is unhealthy and it can keep us stuck.



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