A affirmative temporal preference is simply a logically essential component of the structure of human action, meaning that we always like to meet our goals sooner than later. Time preference may be comparatively low, as in the case of people patiently achieving time-consuming objectives, or comparatively high, as in the case of raptus awaiting immediate gratification, but it must always be positive.
In another words, zero (or even negative) and infinite temporal preference are 2 opposing logical impossibles—or, more specifically, 2 states of things depriving a individual of the position of a willful entity and making him purely vegetative.
On the 1 hand, a purely vegetative being would be a hypothetical man perfectly apathetic, who would indefinitely postpone any action, thus expressing complete indifference to the fulfilment of any purpose. On the another hand, a completely vegetative life would besides be lived by a man who could be called a model example of a "tiktok zombie" – i.e. individual with specified a short time horizon and a narrow scope of attention, that he would not be able to engage even the minimum intellectual resources in the process of consciously choosing any intent and any means, alternatively subjecting himself completely to a reactive stream of instant stimuli flowing from the environment.
Although both of the above examples are alleged perfect types, whose strict signatures may not be in experimental reality, there is no uncertainty about which of them is presently approaching exponentially a large part of society, especially any demographic groups. Hence, the increasingly burdeny conclusion that the most crucial of human purposes – a prerequisite for achieving any another goals – is to carefully and meticulously care for the preservation of the position of a willful entity, that is, not to condemn yourself to what C. S. Lewis erstwhile called "the abolition of humanity." It is not essential to add that the sufficiently extended "removing of humanity" understood in the sense described here would be the same as the abolition of humanity.
Jakub Bożydar Wiśniewski
