why did I immediately think of Aaron Swartz when reading this.......
Unselfish People Are More Likely to Wind Up with Depression
111–120 of 137 posts
Re: Unselfish People Are More Likely to Wind Up with Depression
#112DAE immediately think of Aaron Swartz when reading this article?
Re: Unselfish People Are More Likely to Wind Up with Depression
#113Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why is that observation important to the discussion at hand?
Because people who think of themselves as unselfish but are just passive may get depressed because they never get their way. For example people may be unhappy with their pay but are afraid to ask for more.
That's not even remotely with the subject of the conversation was. It's not the subject or germane to the paper linked at hand. Could we please not politicize this?
Re: Unselfish People Are More Likely to Wind Up with Depression
#114Earlier quoted context omitted.
Because people who think of themselves as unselfish but are just passive may get depressed because they never get their way. For example people may be unhappy with their pay but are afraid to ask for more.
That's not even remotely with the subject of the conversation was. It's not the subject or germane to the paper linked at hand. Could we please not politicize this?
Just curious: What was the discussion about?
Re: Unselfish People Are More Likely to Wind Up with Depression
#115Earlier quoted context omitted.
Like most people, I don't control the world and my actions have minuscule impacts on the global scale. As such I find caring about things outside of my control a rather egotistical standpoint. There is nothing selfish about focusing on things that I can impact, and recognizing your a tiny fish in the vastness of space.
The main issue with that stance is that a lot of human suffering happens because others claim it is "out of their control" to do anything. Dividing things into the two buckets "in my control" and "out if my control" allows a lot of leeway for us to excuse selfish behavior. I think it's prudent to make it out business to get control over and fix things that are actively causing harm. Or as Raymond Chen might say, "Be…
From a super-simple perspective, a community that grows exponentially _will_ eventually have very few resources per head.
If, as a starting point, someone believes the population is growing exponentially then they likely also believe it doesn't matter if they try to be selfish or not. There will be a lot of people with limited resources and that is probably going to reduce their quality of life.
Now there are a lot of issues with this view and the actual reality might favour anything, but I don't think the average selfish or selfless person has thought about them. So I'm pretty happy to excuse both until I see arguments with more facts than 'I think' or implicit 'selfishness is bad it sounds unfriendly'.
Re: Unselfish People Are More Likely to Wind Up with Depression
#116Earlier quoted context omitted.
Like most people, I don't control the world and my actions have minuscule impacts on the global scale. As such I find caring about things outside of my control a rather egotistical standpoint. There is nothing selfish about focusing on things that I can impact, and recognizing your a tiny fish in the vastness of space.
The main issue with that stance is that a lot of human suffering happens because others claim it is "out of their control" to do anything. Dividing things into the two buckets "in my control" and "out if my control" allows a lot of leeway for us to excuse selfish behavior. I think it's prudent to make it out business to get control over and fix things that are actively causing harm. Or as Raymond Chen might say, "Be…
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Re: Unselfish People Are More Likely to Wind Up with Depression
#117Earlier quoted context omitted.
Like most people, I don't control the world and my actions have minuscule impacts on the global scale. As such I find caring about things outside of my control a rather egotistical standpoint. There is nothing selfish about focusing on things that I can impact, and recognizing your a tiny fish in the vastness of space.
The main issue with that stance is that a lot of human suffering happens because others claim it is "out of their control" to do anything. Dividing things into the two buckets "in my control" and "out if my control" allows a lot of leeway for us to excuse selfish behavior. I think it's prudent to make it out business to get control over and fix things that are actively causing harm. Or as Raymond Chen might say, "Be…
> I think it's prudent to make it out business to get control over and fix things that are actively causing harm.
And I am confident I could do that more effectively as an ageless vampire overlord. The main weakness of a benevolent dictatorship has always been the succession.
Re: Unselfish People Are More Likely to Wind Up with Depression
#118“Selfish” conflates two simultaneously-weighted perceptions “this person should give me more” and rational self-interest / getting or not getting a better “deal.”
Likewise, “unselfish” conflates two simultaneously-weighted perceptions virtue-signaling (appearance of giving) and genuine caring about individuals and people (substance of effective helping).
Another issue is that culturally, some people resent each other when there is difference in default attitude: selfish vs. unselfish. It may seem racist but I’ve observed an underlying tension between Arabs and Israelis arise from this difference in outlook in individual relationships.
Re: Unselfish People Are More Likely to Wind Up with Depression
#119Earlier quoted context omitted.
When I see people talk about living indefinitely around here in threads that come up occasionally, it does make me wonder if they are on the other side of some selfishness cutoff. It's weird to think that you'd be interested in living for centuries or longer in a world that has seen everyone before you die and day by day sees horrific injustice. It's almost solipsistic. The same dynamic exists with those hundred mill…
With that kind of thinking, why are you even posting here? Why do you allow yourself any leisure time when people in the world are starving?
> With that kind of thinking, why are you even posting here? Why do you allow yourself any leisure time when people in the world are starving?
Indeed. I tell people all the time that poor/starving people should stop having children so that poverty or having to starve "dies out". I post here so that this message gets a much larger audience.
Re: Unselfish People Are More Likely to Wind Up with Depression
#120The point here seems to be that unselfish people are more empathetic to the plight of others. while I don't disagree I wonder if unselfishness leads people into situations where they work towards others benefit (people they perceive as being treated unfairly) at their own detriment also possibly leading to issues with depression. That's the point I presumed the article would make before I read it.
I would have thought that people trying hard to please others are the ones needing the most help.