7 ms·

I'm not sure I agree with your use of "nominal", but if you're saying right means something like "typical" then I'm fine with that. I guess I'm not sure what "w

by kypro 3y ago

I'm not sure I agree with your use of "nominal", but if you're saying right means something like "typical" then I'm fine with that. I guess I'm not sure what "working as intended" or "nominally" would mean. If the "intention" of my emotions is to approximate my true state then they're doing that just fine. Why would they tell me the world is great when I don't believe that to be true? > It is "wrong" in the sense that it has all of these objectively negative consequences whereas being blissfully happy does not, so it can be claimed to be "right" in relative terms. Obviously I can only speak for myself but depression has manifested both as hyper-productivity and hyper-defeatism for me. I've never felt content so a lot of my life has been an endless struggle to just feel okay which made me unbelievably productive when I was younger and naive enough to think I could fix things. It can be negative at times though, but my perspective on this that optimising for my own happiness is not an achievable goal. All I can do is optimise so that my suffering can be a net-positive for humanity and those I love. So although I might feel like I don't want to go on and I don't want to be productive I do because if I'm not productive or kill myself then I'm letting everyone down and my existence then truly was a net-negative both subjectively and objectively. I have to at least make this objectively positive. So the reason optimising for other people's happiness is everything to me, is because my own means nothing. But that does get destructive when I'm letting people down because then I suddenly start trying to calculate if my life is a net positive to the world and things can go "bad" quick when convince myself I'm doing more harm than good. I think I'm atypical to be fair, but I would argue my depression isn't objectively negative at all which is exactly why I put up with it.

throwuwu 3y ago
Not OP but I view happiness as nominal because I get more done when I’m happy, I find it easier to take small failures in stride, I resonate more with other people and I just get more satisfaction out of life. If I’m feeling down then pretty much the opposite is true. I don’t really feel like my emotions are representation if my mental state since they are a part of it as well as an influence on the more rational side. They also don’t correspond perfectly to the outside world, I can be cheerful even when things are objectively bad which lets me celebrate the small good things I can find in those situations. I can also feel terrible when things are going great sometimes but maybe that’s because I really should be doing something different.

by kypro 3y ago

throwuwu 3y ago

Not OP but I view happiness as nominal because I get more done when I’m happy, I find it easier to take small failures in stride, I resonate more with other people and I just get more satisfaction out of life. If I’m feeling down then pretty much the opposite is true. I don’t really feel like my emotions are representation if my mental state since they are a part of it as well as an influence on the more rational side. They also don’t correspond perfectly to the outside world, I can be cheerful even when things are objectively bad which lets me celebrate the small good things I can find in those situations. I can also feel terrible when things are going great sometimes but maybe that’s because I really should be doing something different.