4 ms·
> If you had a year to live, you would definitely want to be productive. No, I'd want to be happy. It's the uniquely American Calvinist view that conflates th
by CarelessExpert 6y ago
> If you had a year to live, you would definitely want to be productive.
No, I'd want to be happy. It's the uniquely American Calvinist view that conflates these things.
- oblio 6y agoYeah, agreed. I don't think I know any person that's written their will, for example.
- maya24 6y agoIt's irresponsible for anyone with kids to have not done this.
- vntok 6y agoCompletely depends on where you live. Many countries have sane defaults for simple cases.
- lemming 6y agoNo country can have a sane default for “who should look after my kids if both parents die suddenly?”. That will always be a very personal decision that depends very much on your family situation.
- throwaway0a5e 6y agoMaximizing productivity in the context of the parent clearly meant "doing the most of the things you find important". That could be writing a will. That could be smoking pot. It depends on the individual's preferences. I get that misunderstanding the parent comment is an easy excuse to signal your disdain for American cultural norms but it's really not necessary in this context.
- MetalGuru 6y agoGuitar makes me happy. Feeling stimulated and feeling like I’m progressing makes me happy. I can be productive in guitar. Where’s the conflation in this?
- ntsplnkv2 6y agoProgression in guitar makes you happy because guitar makes you happy. It isn't the other way around.
- kortilla 6y agoNo, there is satisfaction in improving a skill. I enjoyed getting faster at end of night audits at my job in high school. I absolutely did not enjoy the audits themselves.
- CaptArmchair 6y agoThe original take wasn't about conflating satisfaction/happiness with progressing through hard, tedious work. It's, more to the point, equating both concepts. As in: You can only attain happiness and satisfaction if you improve/progress. It's perfectly possible to practice guitar and attain some level of proficiency, while detesting the concept of playing the guitar. As in, looking at the instrument, how to play it and how to get better at it from a strictly utilitarian point of view. e.g. I learn to play the guitar because I need to become good at it because I want to get a well paid job in the music industry as a musician. Inevitably, though, you will be wondering why you are pushing yourself through the pain as you drag yourself to your weekly guitar practice sessions. Conversely, it's perfectly valid to simply pluck at the strings, gradually explore the instrument and what it can do, and become increasingly more interested, motivated, incentivized to play as time marches on e.g. because you like the sound, the feel of the strings, finding like minded spirits, enjoy the rhythm, the way it allows you to express how you feel and so on. You becoming more proficient, in that regard, is subservient to the above. It's a function of the fact that you are intrinsically motivated to keep playing. Because you play the guitar for no other reason then that doing that resonates with who you are.
- PhasmaFelis 6y agoYou should read the sentence immediately following the one you quoted. That comment didn't mean what you think it means.