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I remember my colleague from work who said that happiness is linear to amount of money. The more money the more you have vacations, houses, cars. Such view-poin

I remember my colleague from work who said that happiness is linear to amount of money. The more money the more you have vacations, houses, cars. Such view-point is very narrow and materialistic, but some people do think that way. I remember comparing this to having toilets in work. You will be happy with having at least one in your office. It will be good to have two toilets and it will bring more happiness, but what about having 10 toilets? It will not linearly provide more happiness to the office. It is good to have enough money to be able to live a convenient life. The rest is up to you. To your goals. To your motivations. Some people will never be satisfied just by having a big pile of cash only. If you play a game with infinite ammo, infinite health it becomes boring quite easily.

visarga 2y ago
> It is good to have enough money to be able to live a convenient life. The rest is up to you. To your goals. To your motivations. Some people will never be satisfied just by having a big pile of cash only. It's about cultivation. If you spend much time developing interest and taste in a domain, you will enjoy happiness. You are building your capacity for happiness. Money is only part of the equation, it's like potential energy. As long as money is not a hinderance you can almost forget about it. Experience is the other part, how you invest your time.
joss82 2y ago
Yes, you are right that playing a game with infinite ammo and health is boring. However, this never happens in the real world: You buy a nice car, then a nice house, then go to nice vacations, eat better, healthier food. Then you realize that there are layers of nicer everything above what you consider "nice". Build a more ambitious company, and end up building rockets to explore the solar system and make humanity multi-planetary, cure illnesses, extend knowledge or education or peace.
smusamashah 2y ago
Toilet fulfills a need while money can be used to fulfill wants/desires. The upper limit of want has to be lot higher than the need. I don't think number of toilets is a good analogy
- lordnacho 2y ago
  Wants become needs over time. Our ancestors did not take it for granted to have a toilet. In fact, there are still people alive today who grew up with no family toilet, who later got one. Just as there are people who had to hand wash their clothes and their dishes, but now have a machine to do it. I grew up without internet, and I didn't miss it. Now, I will be miserable if you take away any of those things.
  - renegat0x0 2y ago
    Nice things become the norm, we are getting accustomed to norm, we want new shiny thing. Therefore shiny new things do not provide happiness.
bheadmaster 2y ago
> If you play a game with infinite ammo, infinite health it becomes boring quite easily. Minecraft Creative mode would dare to disagree.
- renegat0x0 2y ago
  To be honest I was also thinking about minecraft creative mode. I find it boring. My kids find it boring. Maybe some youtuber do not. Maybe some people do not.
TeMPOraL 2y ago
> The rest is up to you. To your goals. To your motivations. Which are limited by... your money. Money means options, the more of it you have, the more choices you have. Of course happiness isn't O(n) with the balance on your bank account. Having money doesn't buy happiness. Buying happiness buys happiness. Money is distilled, fully generalized power. You have to exercise that power to get the benefit.
trte9343r4 2y ago
> You will be happy with having at least one in your office I would be very happy with zero toilets. It means office has to close, and we work from home. It happed a few times when toilet broke. > but what about having 10 toilets How about 200?! Personal private toilet is pretty reasonable minimal requirement for some people.
- mapcars 2y ago
  > I would be very happy with zero toilets. It means office has to close, and we work from home. You know, depends on a country. In some places they would ask you to go outside lol

visarga 2y ago

> It is good to have enough money to be able to live a convenient life. The rest is up to you. To your goals. To your motivations. Some people will never be satisfied just by having a big pile of cash only. It's about cultivation. If you spend much time developing interest and taste in a domain, you will enjoy happiness. You are building your capacity for happiness. Money is only part of the equation, it's like potential energy. As long as money is not a hinderance you can almost forget about it. Experience is the other part, how you invest your time.

joss82 2y ago

Yes, you are right that playing a game with infinite ammo and health is boring. However, this never happens in the real world: You buy a nice car, then a nice house, then go to nice vacations, eat better, healthier food. Then you realize that there are layers of nicer everything above what you consider "nice". Build a more ambitious company, and end up building rockets to explore the solar system and make humanity multi-planetary, cure illnesses, extend knowledge or education or peace.

smusamashah 2y ago

Toilet fulfills a need while money can be used to fulfill wants/desires. The upper limit of want has to be lot higher than the need. I don't think number of toilets is a good analogy

lordnacho 2y ago
Wants become needs over time. Our ancestors did not take it for granted to have a toilet. In fact, there are still people alive today who grew up with no family toilet, who later got one. Just as there are people who had to hand wash their clothes and their dishes, but now have a machine to do it. I grew up without internet, and I didn't miss it. Now, I will be miserable if you take away any of those things.
- renegat0x0 2y ago
  Nice things become the norm, we are getting accustomed to norm, we want new shiny thing. Therefore shiny new things do not provide happiness.

bheadmaster 2y ago

> If you play a game with infinite ammo, infinite health it becomes boring quite easily. Minecraft Creative mode would dare to disagree.

renegat0x0 2y ago
To be honest I was also thinking about minecraft creative mode. I find it boring. My kids find it boring. Maybe some youtuber do not. Maybe some people do not.

TeMPOraL 2y ago

> The rest is up to you. To your goals. To your motivations. Which are limited by... your money. Money means options, the more of it you have, the more choices you have. Of course happiness isn't O(n) with the balance on your bank account. Having money doesn't buy happiness. Buying happiness buys happiness. Money is distilled, fully generalized power. You have to exercise that power to get the benefit.

trte9343r4 2y ago

> You will be happy with having at least one in your office I would be very happy with zero toilets. It means office has to close, and we work from home. It happed a few times when toilet broke. > but what about having 10 toilets How about 200?! Personal private toilet is pretty reasonable minimal requirement for some people.

mapcars 2y ago
> I would be very happy with zero toilets. It means office has to close, and we work from home. You know, depends on a country. In some places they would ask you to go outside lol