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Re: undefined

#91

Post by int_19h »

baq wrote: post #10
delichon wrote: post #2

I'm afraid this poor guy will be besieged by people who heard about a vacancy in San Francisco. I've unfortunately had my share of dead friends and relatives. I wish I could say that it somehow has made me stronger, more mature, but I'm afraid that the opposite is more true. Each is a trauma that I never entirely recover from. They make the world more bleak, confusing, cold, scary. And it makes it harder to comfort p…

After getting philosophical one evening I came to the conclusion that 'bleak, scary and just plainly shit' is the default state of any particular person's mood and this is how the whole humanity evolved. Happiness and bliss are what you're chasing after, not what you're supposed to be - if you're permanently happy, you've diverged from the mean and either are an exception or overdue for a mean reversal. That is in it…

What did the human species win?

Re: undefined

#92

Post by pintxo »

irjustin wrote: post #85
clooless wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ask yourself if you'd be willing to painlessly end your life, if given the option. Most people prefer to keep on living, which is strong evidence that on balance, despite all the bumps and grief of living, life is still pretty awesome.

I'm not advocating suicide or anything of that form. I'm asking, why should the majority of the world have kids given that life is largely a struggle and in so many places of poverty an extremely difficult one?

Because in a poverty situation, where there is zero state support, the only ones who might eventually help you are your kids? So procreating is a legitimate survival strategy.

Re: undefined

#93

Post by pintxo »

clooless wrote: post #68
irjustin wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm late and not sure who will read this, but I've ended up at the "why do we have kids?" question. Honestly speaking from someone who has 2 beautiful little girls and very squarely middle class life with all its ups and downs. I've recently, but slowly mentally shifted towards being a nihilist. There are so many things to live for, I agree, but at the same time there's like a 10:1 ratio of why living sucks. My privi…

Ask yourself if you'd be willing to painlessly end your life, if given the option. Most people prefer to keep on living, which is strong evidence that on balance, despite all the bumps and grief of living, life is still pretty awesome.

Do they consciously decide this, or is this basic bio-chemistry, selected for over millennia? One would expect evolution to select for chemistry that make an organism want to continue living on. As those organisms have a higher chance of procreating and caring for their offsprings.

Re: undefined

#94

Post by irjustin »

pintxo wrote: post #92
irjustin wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not advocating suicide or anything of that form. I'm asking, why should the majority of the world have kids given that life is largely a struggle and in so many places of poverty an extremely difficult one?

Because in a poverty situation, where there is zero state support, the only ones who might eventually help you are your kids? So procreating is a legitimate survival strategy.

I recognize that and am starting to wonder if that's actually humane.

Re: undefined

#95

Post by rurban »

felipefar wrote: post #69
irjustin wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm late and not sure who will read this, but I've ended up at the "why do we have kids?" question. Honestly speaking from someone who has 2 beautiful little girls and very squarely middle class life with all its ups and downs. I've recently, but slowly mentally shifted towards being a nihilist. There are so many things to live for, I agree, but at the same time there's like a 10:1 ratio of why living sucks. My privi…

Human beings are unique in the world because they are the only species that can understand it. If you remove them from the world, there's nothing left that can throw light in the world's misteries.

It's entirely unplausible that animals won't understand that

Re: undefined

#97

Post by xhevahir »

irjustin wrote: post #86
felipefar wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Human beings are unique in the world because they are the only species that can understand it. If you remove them from the world, there's nothing left that can throw light in the world's misteries.

The nihilist asks - why does that matter for having kids? Is it humane to subject the vast majority of the future human race to taxes, inflation, menial jobs, so we can satisfy our curiosity?

That sounds more like philosophical pessimism and antinatalism. "Humane" doesn't cut any ice with a nihilist.

Re: undefined

#98

Post by anal_reactor »

irjustin wrote: post #66
delichon wrote: post #2

I'm afraid this poor guy will be besieged by people who heard about a vacancy in San Francisco. I've unfortunately had my share of dead friends and relatives. I wish I could say that it somehow has made me stronger, more mature, but I'm afraid that the opposite is more true. Each is a trauma that I never entirely recover from. They make the world more bleak, confusing, cold, scary. And it makes it harder to comfort p…

I'm late and not sure who will read this, but I've ended up at the "why do we have kids?" question. Honestly speaking from someone who has 2 beautiful little girls and very squarely middle class life with all its ups and downs. I've recently, but slowly mentally shifted towards being a nihilist. There are so many things to live for, I agree, but at the same time there's like a 10:1 ratio of why living sucks. My privi…

> If life isn't enjoyable

It can.

Whether you're happy or not boils down to hormones in your blood. Your goal is to maximize the amount of happy hormones and to minimize the negative hormones. Lots of things are biological reactions you can't do much about like "hungry = angry" but modern industrial life already covers most of that, so we're left with psychological reactions "Monday = sad" which can be trained and rewired, but you need to put all the work and basically fight your natural reactions until they change.

I decided to care less and be happier, and it's a long journey, but I see huge changes. I used to be constantly depressed, now I have moments of happiness.

Re: undefined

#99

Post by irjustin »

xhevahir wrote: post #97
irjustin wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The nihilist asks - why does that matter for having kids? Is it humane to subject the vast majority of the future human race to taxes, inflation, menial jobs, so we can satisfy our curiosity?

That sounds more like philosophical pessimism and antinatalism. "Humane" doesn't cut any ice with a nihilist.

yeah you're right i looked it up. definitely not strict nihilist at all.

Re: undefined

#100

Post by anal_reactor »

tzs wrote: post #78
Aeolun wrote: post #49

Traffic in the US is so absurdly deadly. You have one of these posts and people come out of the woodworks everywhere saying they also have a friend that died in a traffic accident. I have zero. I cannot even think of a far off acquaintance ever killed in traffic. Why is traffic such a deadly thing in the US compared to the rest of the world?

Most people use traffic deaths per 100k inhabitants when comparing, but that exaggerates the risks of US traffic because people in the US drive more. For example the US has around 12.9 traffic related deaths per year per 100k inhabitants, and France has around 5. That's a ratio of 2.58:1. But people in the US drive an average of around 23000 km/year. French people average around 13000 km/year. That's a ratio of 1.77:…

> Most people use traffic deaths per 100k inhabitants when comparing, but that exaggerates the risks of US traffic because people in the US drive more.

They drive because they have to, not because they want to, so it's a sensible comparison.

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