# Satisficer or Maximizer?

**URL:** <https://forum.beeminder.com/t/satisficer-or-maximizer/6235>\
**Category:** Akrasia\
**Created:** [January 13, 2020, 11:19pm UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/satisficer-or-maximizer/6235 "2020-01-13T23:19:27Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 21

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![halfplane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3bc359/32.png) [@halfplane](https://forum.beeminder.com/u/halfplane)\
**Post date:** [January 15, 2020, 10:28pm UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/satisficer-or-maximizer/6235/21 "2020-01-15T22:28:18Z")

</div>

> [@matti](#):
>
> And this behavior gets repeated over and over and over again. Lazy, myopic, tragic.

On the other side of the same coin: maybe the maximizer personality trait makes it even just a little bit easier to find some kinds of new knowledge (in other words: progress)? Unreasonable man and all that? It doesn’t have to be _all_ knowledge, or even most: if _any_ knowledge is easier to come by that way, having a few people for whom it does work that way is likely an enormous benefit to humankind. If so, if a maximiser wastes, in their own judgement, most of their life on what turn out to be unimportant obsessions, perhaps that’s not so important overall.

Progress is certainly none of lazy, myopic, or tragic.

I suppose this argument could apply (perhaps correctly) to almost any personality characteristic – “it takes all sorts” – but for what it’s worth, I have a hunch it might apply more so to this one.

---

_[View the full topic](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/satisficer-or-maximizer/6235)._