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Most people have happiness as a goal. Doing what you enjoy accomplishes that goal. Doing things that accomplish your goals is, by definition, not useless. I do

by jjk166 4y ago

Most people have happiness as a goal. Doing what you enjoy accomplishes that goal. Doing things that accomplish your goals is, by definition, not useless. I don't think anyone genuinely holds the belief that economic productivity should be even the primary, nonetheless exclusive, goal for a person's life.

JohnFen 4y ago
> Most people have happiness as a goal Indeed. And I would argue that if you're not, on the whole, living a happy life then something is broken and needs to be fixed. > I don't think anyone genuinely holds the belief [...] Oh, lots of people hold this belief, at least in the US. I think it's reductionist in the extreme (if you aren't a productive drone, you have no value as a person), but it's not all that rare. My response is "if that's the sort of life that makes you happy, who am I to argue?"
- projectazorian 4y ago
  > Oh, lots of people hold this belief, at least in the US. I think it's reductionist in the extreme (if you aren't a productive drone, you have no value as a person), but it's not all that rare. We even made a religion out of it. This is the teleology of American evangelical Protestantism.
paulcole 4y ago
> Most people have happiness as a goal From where I sit either this is true and most people are terrible at achieving their goals or it’s not really most people’s’ goal.
- projectazorian 4y ago
  If you’re posting here you’re likely around a lot of people who have longer time preference and have chosen to temporarily sacrifice short-term happiness in an effort to maximize their lifetime happiness. The key is knowing when to stop. A lot of people don’t.
- mensetmanusman 4y ago
  Philosophers since forever have wondered about this :)
kirso 4y ago
I think we'll remember 21st century as the age of overoptimisation and hustle culture, only to realise all the YouTubers were selling us a dream of forcing being and doing our best. We lost track of doing something because we are intrinsically interested in it. And that process of working on something useless for ourselves in the end has an effect of being useful to others and worst case -> time well-spent since we enjoyed it anyways.

by jjk166 4y ago

JohnFen 4y ago

> Most people have happiness as a goal Indeed. And I would argue that if you're not, on the whole, living a happy life then something is broken and needs to be fixed. > I don't think anyone genuinely holds the belief [...] Oh, lots of people hold this belief, at least in the US. I think it's reductionist in the extreme (if you aren't a productive drone, you have no value as a person), but it's not all that rare. My response is "if that's the sort of life that makes you happy, who am I to argue?"

projectazorian 4y ago
> Oh, lots of people hold this belief, at least in the US. I think it's reductionist in the extreme (if you aren't a productive drone, you have no value as a person), but it's not all that rare. We even made a religion out of it. This is the teleology of American evangelical Protestantism.

paulcole 4y ago

> Most people have happiness as a goal From where I sit either this is true and most people are terrible at achieving their goals or it’s not really most people’s’ goal.

projectazorian 4y ago
If you’re posting here you’re likely around a lot of people who have longer time preference and have chosen to temporarily sacrifice short-term happiness in an effort to maximize their lifetime happiness. The key is knowing when to stop. A lot of people don’t.
mensetmanusman 4y ago
Philosophers since forever have wondered about this :)

kirso 4y ago

I think we'll remember 21st century as the age of overoptimisation and hustle culture, only to realise all the YouTubers were selling us a dream of forcing being and doing our best. We lost track of doing something because we are intrinsically interested in it. And that process of working on something useless for ourselves in the end has an effect of being useful to others and worst case -> time well-spent since we enjoyed it anyways.