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What if you could do it all over? (2020)

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Re: What if you could do it all over? (2020)

#111

Post by apsurd »

ty6853 wrote: post #106
apsurd wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The way I understand your position is "we're wired to do/choose X" The big discussion is why have kids. And your position then is we're wired to, just like taking a dump. It's not a good argument in my mind because the position voids every decision. There are no decisions. No free will. We can discuss that, i suppose. edit: saw your update. I don't know I think it tracks. Asking why does someone do something implies…

My discussion was this: >I find discussions of selfishness interesting in the context of a biological imperative. Why is an interesting discussion, but not identical here. The charge I was responding to was specifically addressing selfishness. I am totally open to the idea one can act selfishly both under the pretext that there is or isn't free will, which moots any attempt you're making here to shoehorn the argument…

ok then "selfishness" is now the unanswerable topic. it's too complex. Classic "there is no altruism". All acts are selfish if one derives any benefit from them. are there acts that people do by choice that give them no benefit?

i don't think this is reductionist btw. Philosophy tends to make people eye-roll. These are unanswerable questions! Discussion is the fun part.

Re: What if you could do it all over? (2020)

#112

Post by kunzhi »

Reading the article and the comments I free-associated to Treebeard from Lord of the Rings:

"Still, I should have liked to see the songs come true about the Entwives. I should have dearly liked to see Fimbrethil again. But there, my friends, songs like trees bear fruit only in their own time their own way: and sometimes they are withered untimely."

Re: What if you could do it all over? (2020)

#113

Post by ty6853 »

apsurd wrote: post #111
ty6853 wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My discussion was this: >I find discussions of selfishness interesting in the context of a biological imperative. Why is an interesting discussion, but not identical here. The charge I was responding to was specifically addressing selfishness. I am totally open to the idea one can act selfishly both under the pretext that there is or isn't free will, which moots any attempt you're making here to shoehorn the argument…

ok then "selfishness" is now the unanswerable topic. it's too complex. Classic "there is no altruism". All acts are selfish if one derives any benefit from them. are there acts that people do by choice that give them no benefit? i don't think this is reductionist btw. Philosophy tends to make people eye-roll. These are unanswerable questions! Discussion is the fun part.

I would break this into a few categories

Selfish non-choice. Ex: The fetus takes nourishment from the mother, even in the case she would rather abort and doesn't consent to the continued hosting of the fetus.

Selfish choice: Ex: I must take a dump, but the place I choose to take a shit is on my bosse's chair because I don't like that his is better than mine.

Non-selfish choice: Fireman is driving home after his shift ended, saves baby from fire.

Non-selfish non-choice: Woman involuntarily starts screaming after witnessing an unrelated car drive into a lake. Passers-by hear the scream and alert emergency services.

Re: What if you could do it all over? (2020)

#115

Post by askafriend »

sircasss wrote: post #54

I felt a strong resonance with the line: “If I had made a different choice back then, how would things be now?” It’s a question everyone has asked themselves in some quiet moment. I remember when I was going through a tough time in my entrepreneurial journey — I felt like I couldn’t go on, crushed by the weight of it all. In those moments, I always thought: if only I had chosen differently, maybe I wouldn’t be suffer…

AI?

Re: What if you could do it all over? (2020)

#116

Post by owebmaster »

deadbabe wrote: post #75
owebmaster wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you think people in 1025 weren't living happy and fulfilling lives? People are happy in Africa, Latin America and the poor parts of Asia now, many places people are happier than in the US actually.

I don’t think they are truly happy. They have moments of joy and things that feel good, but they live in a mileu of misery that they’ve just grown to normalize and doesn’t affect them much. Happiness isn’t just being able to avoid sadness, that’s just contentment. It is difficult to explain happiness to someone that hasn’t been truly happy. When I used to do cocaine, those feelings were pure happiness, and I’ve never…

I think you might not have the best definition of what's happiness. If you go to some Amazon/brazilian indigenous tribe today, you will see happier people than the modern human. That is how many people lived in 1025. Even the people living from the land, they could not work the whole day all day, there was not enough things to do.

Nothing knowing that they could have an easier life also probably played a big role on their happiness. Unhappiness (and depression), I would argue, is probably a modern disease.

Re: What if you could do it all over? (2020)

#117

Post by tristor »

Honestly I wouldn't change much. I think I'd have kept some relationships going that I let fizzle away. I would have done more academically earlier in my life. But otherwise, I think I've made good decisions, served my family and community, and done work that I'm proud of that I feel is morally and ethically defensible. Had I done things differently, I would hope I could have done more to give back than I have done in this current life, but at the end of the day I'm pretty happy with where I'm at.

Re: What if you could do it all over? (2020)

#118

Post by khazhoux »

hshshshshsh wrote: post #73
xyzzy9563 wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If someone cares more about themselves than continuing their family line or the human species, it’s arguably more selfish.

It's also selfish to bring humans that goes through immense suffering in their life so that you get meaning out of life or get joy from kids.

Humans reproduce. It's just what we do. We've been doing it basically as long as we've existed!

It's some kind of weird hubris when people think they've awakened to some grand truth that life is suffering and therefore reproduction is cruel.

Re: What if you could do it all over? (2020)

#119

Post by khazhoux »

y-curious wrote: post #30
anonzzzies wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Never needed that: I like life because I know I will die soon and nothing I do matters. That is the thing I would've liked to know earlier.

So, why continue living? The nihilist pit is something I recommend you claw your way out of, ASAP.

How so? Not everyone needs a cosmic scale Greater Meaning in order to go about their lives.

Re: What if you could do it all over? (2020)

#120

Post by [deleted] »

HenryBemis wrote: post #96
jmathai wrote: post #6

Family and children eliminated thoughts of my “unlived” lives. Life is hard. Focusing on gratitude helps me be thankful for what I have instead of thinking about what may have been.

I remember the "Beatle that got away" saying that "the best thing that happened in my life was to leave the Beatles, and I would never change that" (I don't remember the precise quote, but it was something along those lines). He then went on explaining how "if I was still with the Beatles he wouldn't have the kids he now has, and there is no price for that.

[deleted]
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