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> The pain of loss is one of the most important signals that something impacted your happiness Ehhhh kind of bullshit? And then also dangerous. If something t

> The pain of loss is one of the most important signals that something impacted your happiness Ehhhh kind of bullshit? And then also dangerous. If something that impacted your happiness is no longer around, why must that result in pain? IMO, the lack of a source of happiness should not result in pain (although it often does). Maybe if it's your last one, or otherwise reduces overall happiness to below threshold values, but I'd say that's a signal you need to diversify your portfolio. AFAIK, I know far to many people who then also equate pain with happiness, for exactly this thinking. You can stab yourself with a pen. Does that make the pen meaningful, because it can cause you pain? I'd say the pain of loss is a strong and significant signal that something impacted your happiness, but the happiness itself should the (only) significant signal. Everything else is nuance and seasoning.

amp108 8y ago
You're making a logical error. The article isn't saying that pain is an inevitable result of losing a source of happiness, only that this kind of pain is an indication that something impacted your happiness. If you're having difficulty making the distinction, consider that everyone who lives in Ohio lives in the USA, but not everyone in the USA lives in Ohio.
- RangerScience 8y ago
  I'm not disagreeing that it is an indicator, I'm disagreeing that it's an important one. Or, rather, I'm saying that many people treat it as an important one and they probably shouldn't, because it has some pretty severe and detrimental side-effects when you use it as such an indicator. I think it's kind of like using urination as a measure of hydration in drinks. Yes, it is actually related, but you can drink less- (or de-) hydrating things (beer!), and, you're not drinking things in order to urinate (well, usually). So it correlates, but I would say, is not a good measure of what you actually care about.

amp108 8y ago

You're making a logical error. The article isn't saying that pain is an inevitable result of losing a source of happiness, only that this kind of pain is an indication that something impacted your happiness. If you're having difficulty making the distinction, consider that everyone who lives in Ohio lives in the USA, but not everyone in the USA lives in Ohio.

RangerScience 8y ago
I'm not disagreeing that it is an indicator, I'm disagreeing that it's an important one. Or, rather, I'm saying that many people treat it as an important one and they probably shouldn't, because it has some pretty severe and detrimental side-effects when you use it as such an indicator. I think it's kind of like using urination as a measure of hydration in drinks. Yes, it is actually related, but you can drink less- (or de-) hydrating things (beer!), and, you're not drinking things in order to urinate (well, usually). So it correlates, but I would say, is not a good measure of what you actually care about.