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Question

Meet Greg. Greg was born with pretty average genetics. It seems like he was destined to have average intelligence, average strength, and be average at everything. There was one particularly though: he has unlimited willpower.

Willpower is the ability to resist short-term temptations in order to meet long-term goals. Having unlimited amounts of it, Greg can, for example, withstand any amount of torture (although he will still suffer trauma), exercise until his body collapses of exhaustion, refrain from eating until he faints, or even hold his breath until he passes out, if he so chooses.

Of course, these are just the most extreme though not very useful examples of his powers. More practicality, he can break any bad habit or begin any good habit by just deciding to do so. He is immune to addiction. He can do something boring for any amount of time he chooses, such as learning about something he's not particularly interested in, exercise for any amount of time he chooses (if physically able), follow any code of conduct to the best of his physical ability, etc...

This of course allows him to be a superhero/supervillain (depending on his goals) similar to batman. He would likely be super intelligent, super fit and strong, have lots of skills including leadership, etc..., since these would likely help him advance his long term goals.

My question is, what is the most plausible way Greg could exist? It could be either natural or artificial.

I think the most plausible answer is some sort of medication that completely suppresses one's desire to complete short term goals instead of long term goals. Another possibility would be that Greg was born with some brain deformity to the same effect. This has the interesting side effect that when Greg takes the medication/when he is born, he may completely disregard things like food or water (which would obviously be life-threatening) until he figures out that he needs to "will" himself into eating, drinking, sleeping, and going to the bathroom, since he no longer is compelled to.

P.S. If you use Greg in a story, he could very easily become a Mary Sue. To mitigate this, some possible weaknesses would be stubbornness, odd beliefs or delusions, or obsessions (such as revenge). Of course Greg could get rid of these weaknesses if he wanted to, but the idea is that he probably wouldn't. Another weakness is that if you someone how suppress his superpower (for example, by cutting off his medication), he gets extreme avolition.

@Renan lol, Asperger's doesn't give you unlimited willpower. It may give you more in some circumstances, but not "hold your breath till you pass out" kind of willpower. — 1 hour ago
I know that I cannot take just a couple examples I know and extrapolate from there, but Greg may be an aspie with more "willpower" than the average for aspies. I wouldn't call it willpower, though. More like a mix of stubborness, single-mindedness and drive. — 1 hour ago
@Renan okay, maybe "super-aspergers" would do it, although it would be good to have a biological reason for having it, given that I don't of any real life cases of it. — 1 hour ago

Ash 24.6k464139 · Answer 1 · 2018-11-07 15:38:36Z

Greg is clearly brain damaged, we know that selectively damaging certain areas of the brain causes drastic and "interesting" changes in behaviour. For example damage to area 24 of the anterior cingulate cortex can divorce people from their normal emotional responses to being in pain; they still feel pain normally but they don't get upset by it or feel the need to stop it happening. The effect you're looking for is unlikely to be attainable through a single piece of brain damage and will probably mean extensive damage to many separate areas of his brain. Such damage may occur due to disease but it's more likely that someone deliberately damaged Greg's brain through surgical intervention.

Oh, that would make for a dark back story. Wolverine-esq. Also could lead to other side effects if done poorly, or if those brain regions have multiple functions. — 1 hour ago
@PyRulez I was thinking more of Peter Watts' Rifters from Starfish, Maelstrom, and ÃŽÂ²ehemoth who they did repeated brain surgery on to convince them that they had been abused as children but there are parallels with Wolverine too. — 59 mins ago
Also, you could have a series of people who were "failed attempts", which would be interesting. — 57 mins ago
@PyRulez Yeah failures and accidents are often the most interesting parts of science. — 56 mins ago
@PyRulez Yeah have a look at "Psychological and neural mechanisms of the affective dimension of pain" from Science. 288 (5472): 1769Ã¢Â€Â“72. It's reference 30 for the wikipedia article I linked. — 21 mins ago

kingledion 68.1k22226385 · Answer 2 · 2018-11-07 15:33:00Z

Greg has more 'volition' in his head

A relatively famous study from Baumeister, et al., 1998. The study concerns ego depletion, which is

temporary reduction in the self's capacity or willingness to engage
in volitional action (including controlling the environment,
controlling the self, making choices, and initiating action) caused by
prior exercise of volition.

Please note that volition is the expenditure of willpower on some task.

The money quote:

Taken together, these four studies point toward a broad pattern of ego
depletion. In each of them, an initial act of volition was followed by
a decrement in some other sphere of volition.

Now we can see 'volition' as a finite pool of willpower that you have in your head/psyche.

So, let us assume that there exists a physical manifestation of volition. Some set of neurons, some chemical component, something, it doesn't really matter what it is. Greg has more of it than you do.

How does Greg have more?

If volition is a physical resource, then there are two possible ways to explain how Greg has an infinite amount of it. Either, Greg 'regenerates' volition faster than other people, faster than he can expend it; or Greg 'burns' volition at a slower rate than other people, less quickly than it is regenerated. Or, both can be true.

I was kinda thinking of this. I was hoping for something more specific (why does he regenerate it faster), but this is still a good answer. — 1 hour ago
Baumeister wrote a excellent book on Willpower: amazon.com/Willpower-Rediscovering-Greatest-Human-Strength/dp/â€¦ You can read it to see which specific brain regions or hormones are responsible for willpower and impulse control. — 45 mins ago

Cort Ammon 103k15180367 · Answer 3 · 2018-11-07 16:41:50Z

"Infinite" is not a word that should be thrown about. It's the kind of word that initially leads to questions like "Can Greg stop the progress of entropy with will power alone?" and progresses onward towards questions like "Can Greg overthrow God" or similar questions tailored to your religion of choice.

If we sidestep "infinite" and just look at people with really strong willpower, there are examples of people who do what you say. The top of that scale consists of people whose willpower is so strong that they will spend their entire lives pursuing something, and when they die you get the distinct impression that they're not yet done pursuing it.

The Eastern cultures have characters such as these in plenty. You see them in the Western cultures too, but in the West we tend to recognize that which the person did accomplish rather than what they strove towards, so we don't raise them on the same pedestal.

An example I remember reading about was a yogi that had completely mastered his startle reflex. Startle reflex is the jerking motion we make when surprised, such as when a loud noise goes off near us. It is preparing for the unknown assailant. There was a researcher who was looking into this reflex. He had put together an audio device that played a sound like a gunshot. From testing it on police and military and others, he had found that it was loud enough and unexpected enough that everybody startled. So he went out to find people who might not be startled. He went to Nepal and was directed to a yogi who lived in the mountains. The yogi agreed to be tested, put the headphones on, and listened. When the sound went off, the yogi didn't flinch at all. He simply smiled. When asked to describe it, he described the sound as "clear as a bell."

I say the West doesn't put these people on the same pedestal, but there are cases where we do. You mention resisting torture, and that's one case where we do appreciate it. If you look back through religious history, you'll found countless souls tortured to death for their beliefs. They had enough willpower to face torture and death -- it is hard to argue there's a higher level of willpower than that.

A common pattern I see in such characters is that they all have the "never move backwards" mentality. They may approach their goal very slowly, limited by things such as their frail and aging body, but they never move away from their goal. They're constantly rolling and sliding and finding every which way to take one step closer to their goal. Never back. A word I have been given for this is "yielding," and the phrasing I have been given for it it is "yielding is using your opponent's force to move you to a better position."

I do believe this yielding pattern is crucial for a character like Greg. Willpower on its own doesn't cause anything to happen, unless it is coordinated with the movement of the world around you. When you are opposing the world, it is essential that you not lose ground, and you simply wait for the opportune moment.

I also notice characters such as this have a very fluid concept of waiting for the opportune moment. They don't wait for the seas to part and put their goal in sight. They're constantly maneuvering with every cell in their body, trying to find a better position. In martial arts, they're not waiting for me to lose balance. They're waiting for my wrist to be slightly out of position, and then they jump on that mistake just enough to let them apply their willpower towards my elbow. If I keep control of my elbow, but lose control of my shoulder, they wont sit back and wait for me to lose the elbow. They'll happily jump one step closer to their goal without caring which step I presented to them.

Daring to use a well trodden meme, sending Greg to a monastery that specializes in such growth would be the easiest to write way to accomplish this. The Shaolin Monks are famous for their brutal training which instills an amazing amount of willpower. They depend heavily, of course, on the wisdom and practice of the monks before them, which must apply this brutal training regimen not merely to apply it, but with the willpower required to shape a soul with the training.

But you don't have to go that far. All you need is the mysterious mentor who just seems to put you on the right path. We can find it in fiction books such as Richard Bach's "Illusions." We can also find it all over in reality once we realize we can look for it. You can find it in some celebrity rappers and how they try to raise the next generation of rappers. You can find it in the coach who spends their time at the YMCA trying to keep children off the streets. You can find it in a chess coach who treats chess not as a game, but as a lesson in how to approach life.

You can find it in the lifelong pursuit of many fathers, as they strive to raise their child as best as they possibly can. And you will find it in every mother -- it's simply a rule. That's how being a mom works.

Bald Bear 6,011823 · Answer 4 · 2018-11-07 16:42:27Z

TL;DR: Greg's subconscious is weak, or is under control of the conscious mind.

@kingledion is correct in pointing you to Baumeister's research.
There is more in his popular-science book: https://www.amazon.com/Willpower-Rediscovering-Greatest-Human-Strength/dp/0143122231

Here are couple more books:
https://www.amazon.com/Nudge-Improving-Decisions-Health-Happiness/dp/014311526X/
https://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Fast-Slow-Daniel-Kahneman/dp/0374533555/

It was a while since I read them, but I have an idea based on what I do remember.

Impulsive and addictive behaviors happen b/c they release dopamine into the brain. Dopamine tells the brain "you are doing the right thing", and make the person feel good about themselves. What releases the dopamine is the sub-conscious part of the mind. It evolved to encouraged a person to do things that improve chances of survival despite no immediate benefit: e.g. social interactions mean you are part of tribe and will have easier time surviving, and finding food when you are not hungry means you are less likely to go hungry later. In modern society, these instincts power addictions: to sex and social media make your subconscious think you are part of a tribe, and gambling or videogames make you feel you are collecting valuable resources.

But Greg got over it. Either his subconscious does not release dopamine at all, or he learned to suppress/control/redirect his subconscious instincts. No dopamine might be causes by genetic mutation, radiation, or physical trauma, and it might have nasty side effects: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dopamine

Weakened subconscious could be results of psychological trauma or abuse: all social and random events are negative; the only positive outcomes come from his own thinking and control. Control over subconscious can be learned (see the books). One trick is to associate unwanted behavior with negative feelings, e.g. if your body starts craving a drug, think about drug addicts and how disgusting they are. And then redirect your dopamine craving to exercise, which releases dopamine directly ("runner's high"), and lets you daydream about how strong and muscular you will be. The cost of doing this is slower thinking (subconscious is fast), less happiness, and more stress. You can have Greg go berserk occasionally.

Finally, if you want to get more sci-fi'ish, you can have Greg directly control dopamine release, and time it with things he considers a successes. Or he was a subject in a program that did that.

Ash 24.6k464139 · Answer 5 · 2018-11-07 15:38:36Z

Greg is clearly brain damaged, we know that selectively damaging certain areas of the brain causes drastic and "interesting" changes in behaviour. For example damage to area 24 of the anterior cingulate cortex can divorce people from their normal emotional responses to being in pain; they still feel pain normally but they don't get upset by it or feel the need to stop it happening. The effect you're looking for is unlikely to be attainable through a single piece of brain damage and will probably mean extensive damage to many separate areas of his brain. Such damage may occur due to disease but it's more likely that someone deliberately damaged Greg's brain through surgical intervention.

Oh, that would make for a dark back story. Wolverine-esq. Also could lead to other side effects if done poorly, or if those brain regions have multiple functions. — 1 hour ago
@PyRulez I was thinking more of Peter Watts' Rifters from Starfish, Maelstrom, and ÃŽÂ²ehemoth who they did repeated brain surgery on to convince them that they had been abused as children but there are parallels with Wolverine too. — 59 mins ago
Also, you could have a series of people who were "failed attempts", which would be interesting. — 57 mins ago
@PyRulez Yeah failures and accidents are often the most interesting parts of science. — 56 mins ago
@PyRulez Yeah have a look at "Psychological and neural mechanisms of the affective dimension of pain" from Science. 288 (5472): 1769Ã¢Â€Â“72. It's reference 30 for the wikipedia article I linked. — 21 mins ago

kingledion 68.1k22226385 · Answer 6 · 2018-11-07 15:33:00Z