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> experience while you're alive, because who cares what happens once we're dead? > so why not focus in on a timescale that'll actually be interesting? By that

by aianus 11y ago

> experience while you're alive, because who cares what happens once we're dead? > so why not focus in on a timescale that'll actually be interesting? By that logic, it would follow that you should spend all of your money on hookers and blow tonight and shoot yourself come morning. Then the rest of your life will be 100% interesting and enjoyable and the part afterwards is irrelevant. Edit: I mean the general 'you' not the personal 'you'. Just pointing out that happy growth-minded people don't really believe those quotes or they would live very differently.

nostrademons 11y ago
"Happy" in this context means satisfied over time, not instantaneously ecstatic. Think of it as the integral of happiness over lifespan. Few people care about how happy they'll be when they're dead; that seems like optimizing for something pointless. Similarly, few people want to be really happy and then be dead the next instant. Think of Jeff Bezos's regret minimization framework. You want to be able look back on your life from some point many years in the future and say "I lived it the best way that I could". You don't want to look back on your life on your deathbed and think "Man, my whole life, I knew that this day would come and render it all pointless, and now I've proved myself right!" Nor do you want to look back on your life tomorrow and think "Oh shit, this is it!"
- cJ0th 11y ago
  > You want to be able look back on your life from some point many years in the future and say "I lived it the best way that I could". You don't want to look back on your life on your deathbed and think "Man, my whole life, I knew that this day would come and render it all pointless, and now I've proved myself right!" I don't see how these statements are mutually exclusive.
- aianus 11y ago
  > Few people care about how happy they'll be when they're dead; that seems like optimizing for something pointless. > You don't want to look back on your life on your deathbed and think... These statements are rather contradictory. On one hand you acknowledge that my happiness upon death is irrelevant, on the other I'm supposed to care about my life retrospective moments before death.
oldmanjay 11y ago
No, you demonstrated that you would have a very visceral set of goals. You proved nothing about minds which you do not occupy.

by aianus 11y ago

nostrademons 11y ago

"Happy" in this context means satisfied over time, not instantaneously ecstatic. Think of it as the integral of happiness over lifespan. Few people care about how happy they'll be when they're dead; that seems like optimizing for something pointless. Similarly, few people want to be really happy and then be dead the next instant. Think of Jeff Bezos's regret minimization framework. You want to be able look back on your life from some point many years in the future and say "I lived it the best way that I could". You don't want to look back on your life on your deathbed and think "Man, my whole life, I knew that this day would come and render it all pointless, and now I've proved myself right!" Nor do you want to look back on your life tomorrow and think "Oh shit, this is it!"

cJ0th 11y ago
> You want to be able look back on your life from some point many years in the future and say "I lived it the best way that I could". You don't want to look back on your life on your deathbed and think "Man, my whole life, I knew that this day would come and render it all pointless, and now I've proved myself right!" I don't see how these statements are mutually exclusive.
aianus 11y ago
> Few people care about how happy they'll be when they're dead; that seems like optimizing for something pointless. > You don't want to look back on your life on your deathbed and think... These statements are rather contradictory. On one hand you acknowledge that my happiness upon death is irrelevant, on the other I'm supposed to care about my life retrospective moments before death.

oldmanjay 11y ago

No, you demonstrated that you would have a very visceral set of goals. You proved nothing about minds which you do not occupy.