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Is there more pain than pleasure in the world?

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Comments

  • #32
    Ficheall
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 9,067 ✭✭✭Ficheall


    I don't think they're pretending that they have it worse than anyone else, just suggesting that the net utility derived from living the average life is not necessarily positive.

    It's not an invalid notion. The metric is tricky, of course, and more so if living the happiest life is deemed to be a childish ambition, but that doesn't render the question absurd or the person who poses it a narcissist.


  • #33
    johnnyfoxy
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5 ✭johnnyfoxy


    I feel lucky that I have had a lot more pleasure than pain compared to others. I'd say generally there's a lot more pain in the world.


  • #34
    Ariadne
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,149 ✭✭✭Ariadne


    In my experience life is pain. Some pleasure too but mostly pain.


  • #35
    sk8erboii
    Site Banned Posts: 1,253 ✭✭✭sk8erboii


    Ficheall wrote: »
    What? :confused: What are you proposing to do with this "meaning"? Do you think there's a pop quiz at the Pearly Gates?


    Maximising happiness (though the question of its distribution and doing no harm is a more complex issue) seems like a much more rational ambition.

    Then just shoot heroin until you OD.


  • #36
    sk8erboii
    Site Banned Posts: 1,253 ✭✭✭sk8erboii


    Avatar MIA wrote: »
    That's a pretty shìt response/meaning of life.

    The alternative proposed is killing yourself. Im not religious at all but a deep appeal of Christianity/Buddhism is that youre trying to find the meaning of whatevers causing you pain.


    For example, the story of christ is about a man who is questioning his suffering. Only to realize it leads to his transcendance to become a better person. He ends up helping others.


    Take that same story and apply to an addict who didnt kill himself, a doctor or anyone who has ever wanted to but instead kept living to improve others lives.

    Antinatalism was invented by depressed intellectuals who wanted to rationalize their own pain: most of the literature were written by people who killed themselves straight afterwards. Ive read a bunch of their books and grew out of that emo phase when i was 16


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  • #37
    Danzy
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 15,242 ✭✭✭✭Danzy


    Ficheall wrote: »
    I don't think they're pretending that they have it worse than anyone else, just suggesting that the net utility derived from living the average life is not necessarily positive.

    It's not an invalid notion. The metric is tricky, of course, and more so if living the happiest life is deemed to be a childish ambition, but that doesn't render the question absurd or the person who poses it a narcissist.

    If happiness is a person's ambition in life, then they will have a miserable life. More miserable than other's lives.

    They will also cause problems for those around them.

    They'll probably be kind, decent people but that won't matter, they'll become bitter or depressed, both or they'll let go the idea of happiness as a goal and then live lives that may be great.


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