Coder philosophy drivel has truly ascended to the level of high art.
Hacking the Hedonic Treadmill
11–20 of 148 posts
Re: Hacking the Hedonic Treadmill
#12Pretty sure I’d be happier if I didn’t have to work for a living.
I really like to work and the area I've chosen. What makes it annoying is that I have to work on what upper management thinks is important at any given time. They want me to design a high level software architecture now but I want to code. Next week they want me to code but I want to design. It very rarely aligns. If ever. That annoys me and probably causes management a great deal of anxiety when I go off path. It fe…
> It feels so childish of me.
It is. "Capitalism is for children" said Adam Phillips [1]
You cannot be a fully fledged adult, a self-determined being, under conditions of wage slavery.
Education is set up not to allow graceful separation into adulthood, as most cultures have historically done, but to transfer dependency to a new set of masters.
Late capitalism in particular, with its intrusive lack of boundaries, neurotic management, measurement, bureaucracy and surveillance, or any similar state-controlled apparatus such as in China, is, as that line in "The Matrix" goes - a prison for your mind.
Philosophers criticised the Church (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) as "patently infantile family values" to keep people in subjugation. We have largely overthrown that aspect of patriarchal religion only to replace it with a Corporate equivalent.
> I'm looking for solutions to hack this
How did occidental culture dethrone the Church?
It didn't happen in one day, when everyone decided to live a secular life. For centuries individuals stood up, called themselves "atheists" and refused to join in the rituals. They were punished and suffered pain and ostracism.
The problem is, for the aspiring Hedonist, entering into a world of pain to champion a principle that people should have pleasurable lives, won't fly for any but the most unselfish and far sighted.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Phillips_(psychologist)
Re: Hacking the Hedonic Treadmill
#13Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't think I'd be much happier. I work 4 days per week. I need it in order to keep exercising my logical side, because I exercise it a lot less in my personal life.
Those Civ5/Civ6 custom maps won't beat themselves... IOW, there's plenty other activities that heavily involve logical side which are not paid coding work.
Of course there are plenty of other activities, but I get paid to do this and I like the ability to actually build something. Civ5/Civ6 feels meaningless in comparison. What have I actually effected in the world? Nothing
Re: Hacking the Hedonic Treadmill
#14Awareness of the hedonic treadmill meshes quite well with my 'frugal' Yorkshire tendencies.
A favourite on HN seems to be coffee, and spending ever more on 'good' coffee. I mainly just drink instant coffee, filter coffee for the weekend. I still get my 'good' coffee and I appreciate it. Same goes for wine and chocolate.
It's also led me away from expensive experiences to unique/different experiences.
It's also helpful for informing new purchases. Do I need the latest car with all the bells and whistles or can I just stay a generation behind and be excited with a new car with electric windows or whatever.
Re: Hacking the Hedonic Treadmill
#15Coder philosophy drivel has truly ascended to the level of high art.
'coder philosophy'?
It's just awareness of yourself. If you know that if you have one glass of wine, that leads to a 3 day bender, then you can do something to stop the cycle. If you mindlessly consume to be happier, this is a tool to stop the cycle.
Re: Hacking the Hedonic Treadmill
#16I like these hacks, it’s also a mindset that needs to be at the forefront of all of this, why not eudaemonia over hedonism? Ive been interested recently around eudaemonia, Whilst i’m familiar with some of its stoic principles im just barely scratching the surface, this is just my take, but there’s noticeable patterns within literature in subjects such as minimalism, buddhism and stoicism. All pointing towards eudaemo…
A hackergroup inspired by Eudaimonism:
Re: Hacking the Hedonic Treadmill
#17The idea of hacking the hedonic treadmill misses one important point: the mind adapts to these hacks as well. And now you are looking for more hacks.
Re: Hacking the Hedonic Treadmill
#18The idea of hacking the hedonic treadmill misses one important point: the mind adapts to these hacks as well. And now you are looking for more hacks.
exactly, more more more!
Re: Hacking the Hedonic Treadmill
#19The idea of hacking the hedonic treadmill misses one important point: the mind adapts to these hacks as well. And now you are looking for more hacks.
Relatively, right? It's like adding tons of variation and cycles in training (i.e. periodization). Done correctly, you can keep improving season after season.
Re: Hacking the Hedonic Treadmill
#20Anna Lembke’s “Dopamine Nation” has a lot of interesting takes on the subject. One takeaway I got is that dopamine seeks a balance. Opting for pleasure seeking often ends up getting experienced as pain. An example of that is drug tolerance. Oddly, the reverse is also true: seeking pain can often lead to an experience of pleasure. The invigorated feeling after a cold shower, or how hard exercise leads to highs.
She is a great podcast guest, too. Her approach - that the people with the strongest addictions can tell us a lot about how we seek pleasure - has a lot of depth to it.