It's frustrating that the author acknowledges that most bad things are probably heavily correlated, but just soldiers on with his point as though they're independent random variables. Poverty in particular is heavily correlated with, well, most bad things that can happen to a person.
How Bad Are Things? (2015)
51–60 of 144 posts
Re: How Bad Are Things? (2015)
#52If people wore an accurate net misery score on their foreheads, I wonder if it would reduce or increase identity based conflict? Would we look at the scores of people at the intersection of disadvantaged groups, see that they were suffering a lot more, and increase our support for them? Or would we see that putatively privileged classes suffer about as much as others, and conclude that people are people, and our symp…
I dont think this article has any reading which says that privileged classes suffer the same as others. They still suffer, but the ways and chance of people in non white non affluent groups suffering is higher. The point was just to not be black and white about privilege as the only source of suffering.
Re: How Bad Are Things? (2015)
#53I always try to remind myself that everyone is fighting their own battles.
If someone cuts me off while I am driving, I come up with alternate explanations. Maybe that person really has to use the bathroom etc. Rather than think a person is just being evil.
Something I have noticed before, the physical demeanor of people you see walking around you has a psychological effect on yourself. Many years ago this came up in a conversation I was having with a retired Math professor.
Re: How Bad Are Things? (2015)
#54Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sure, the idea that the right solution is always sympathy and material assistance is a bit reductionistic. But the idea that what's best for people is always tough love and a job is just as reductionistic and oversimplified. And at scale, neither blanket solution is perfectly effective, but one at least leans towards kindness.
Of course, we agree there. Re: your final sentence, what I'm actually saying here is that this version of "kindness" may be actively harming some people in the long run. But because humans are generally bad at long-term thinking, we follow our instincts (i.e. "make this person feel immediately better any way possible in this immediate moment"). So, "kindness" isn't necessarily kind in these situations. Your desire to…
I should clarify because I feel there is some confusion- I do not desire to help someone. I do not desire to be kind, nor compassionate. I merely find it more useful to be willing to listen to others and come from a place to desire to understand first, evaluate second, act third. I've stated to my companions that I'm not a compassionate, empathetic, or kind person (to their vehement disagreement) because my willingness to listen does not spawn from any of the reasoning you are pointing as flawed.
Re: How Bad Are Things? (2015)
#55> The town where I practice psychiatry is mostly white and mostly wealthy. That doesn’t save it. Ethnicity and wealth are physical things. Happiness is an emotion you feel. They are related only insofar as one depends on physical things for happiness. This is a spiritual issue really (not to be confused with religion or any sort of belief) and this is something that our (otherwise very successful) modern way of life…
Scott wasn't trying to make an incredibly racist point that being white is intrinsically linked to happiness, but merely that being white in the US is considered privileged, a.k.a. "playing life on easy".
When the game has heavy RNG, even those playing on an easier difficulty will lose often.
Re: How Bad Are Things? (2015)
#56In my experience this is very true upon simply becoming the kind of person who is open to listening to others. The vast majority of people you've run into have had huge difficulties in life, or are affected by people close to them who have huge difficulties in their lives. People tell me I'm a wonderful listener due to my lack of judgement on their problems (more than once, people, including my therapist, tell me I'd…
This is a beautiful, and much-needed, sentiment. All of us have our own struggles. Unless you’re that person, it is not for you to judge if it is small or big. It is enough to know that there are struggles.
Re: How Bad Are Things? (2015)
#57Isn't that just entropy in action... There are a zillion ways for any system to be disordered, and only a handful that we would consider "ordered". Life is constantly fighting entropy, and always eventually fails. It makes sense for disorder and even misery to be fairly common. I do tend to dismiss the concerns of others, simply because I've come to the conclusion that I cannot fix the vast majority of the problems o…
Entropy is exactly what i thought of too! It kinda gives a theoretical foundation to find why most people's lives are short of what they expect.
Re: How Bad Are Things? (2015)
#58Earlier quoted context omitted.
Agreed. Problems like this compound like there's no tomorrow. As someone who lives somewhere that's very blue collar and works somewhere very rich and white collar the difference is incredibly stark. Where I live you see the signs that some people have problems, people living out of cars, the occasional mobility scooter avoiding the potholes on the sidewalk, houses will go unrepaired for long periods of time you stan…
Do the people in that second group consider themselves happy and fortunate? In some poor areas people have particularly strong social ties - in part because they haven't moved to the area. That can have real value.
Most people in both groups seem generally happy but the latter group thinks the world is ending because climate change/trump/microplastics/etc. The poorer group definitely has the more positive outlook but one could argue they're not thinking long enough term (but who could blame them). Generally speaking the sources of anguish for the rich group doesn't even make the cut to be considered a problem for the poor group.
Re: How Bad Are Things? (2015)
#59I always try to remind myself that everyone is fighting their own battles. If someone cuts me off while I am driving, I come up with alternate explanations. Maybe that person really has to use the bathroom etc. Rather than think a person is just being evil. Something I have noticed before, the physical demeanor of people you see walking around you has a psychological effect on yourself. Many years ago this came up in…
this is water huh?
Re: How Bad Are Things? (2015)
#60Earlier quoted context omitted.
> but really I've internalized the idea that everyone is living a life less than what they hoped their life would be to various extents and that there is also a near infinite combination of ways to achieve this effect such that no one can be dismissed for their misery in any respect without also dismissing the "legitimate" misery of a wide swath of people. There's a downside to this logic, one of the enabling sort. I…
Sure, the idea that the right solution is always sympathy and material assistance is a bit reductionistic. But the idea that what's best for people is always tough love and a job is just as reductionistic and oversimplified. And at scale, neither blanket solution is perfectly effective, but one at least leans towards kindness.
Nick Lowe made a song out of this paradox: