4 ms·

Why is it wrong to be greedy or to "want more"?

by f00_ 13y ago

izzydata 13y ago
The word "greed" by definition implies wrong. It means that you want much more than you need. Because there are so many people that have less than they need.
bigd 13y ago
Because is not going to make you happy, and on the long term is going to damage the mankind. Keeping the hippy crap out of the discussion, the problem is that you are already suffering from of the greed of your parents. And for your sons will be even worst. Problem is that greed, most of the time make you choose for an easy income vs substantial growth. But the problem is probably deeper. Someone few days ago suggested this book. I invite you to give it a try. http://hn-books.com/Books/A-Guide-to-the-Good-Life-The-Ancient-Art-of-Stoic-Joy.htm http://hn-books.com/Books/A-Guide-to-the-Good-Life-The-Ancie...
- logfromblammo 13y ago
  Having more is great, up to a certain point. I think that point is probably after you can buy everything that you ever wanted for yourself, and still have some left afterward. After that, unless you actually hire someone to spend your money for you, or you learn to want bigger and more expensive things, you are turning the economic flow from a perpetual circulation into a one-way dead end.
noname123 13y ago
Hi f00_4, typically being greedy means 'capital accumulation' or wanting more 'respect' in a field or say athletic, sexual or intellectual prowess. Behind the desire is a desire for a cessation of anxiety or insecurity, e.g., if I become rich, then I want to travel the world. However the paradox, IMHO is that limitation is freedom, pain is joy. There is no bigger prison than having unstructured and unlimited amount of free time and capital. Personally, if it was up to me, I'd just wither away while playing Dota2, snort cocaine and numb myself with a personal harem of courtesans - which is just a dramatic device for what people in Western society do to "take the edge off" everyday. Without pain, we can't appreciate joy. The desire to escape pain and anxiety numbs our entire existence. I'd weave a self-narrative to "redeem" myself at the end of the tunnel, at 15 I'd become the next Kurt Cobain, at 18 the next Great American Writer, at 21 the next Mark Zuckerburg, at 25 the next AirBnB 'Software is Eating the Traditional World' entrepreneur, 27 the next Enterprise Software entrepreneur, 35 the next technical architect at a respectable software company, 40 the next C-level executive and amassing sizable personal fortune (all the time scaling in my personal and social relationships, of course). It is more liberating IMHO to accept my mediocrity and limitations. Than adding more layers of self delusion materialistic or intellectual or moral to get further stuck and perpetuate more lies. There is sometimes more joy and self-acceptance in a condemned man than a man condemned to the routines of capitalism. Not that kind of 'navel-gazing' self-denial seen in Western Zen monasteries, but the man on death row has finally ceased the struggle due to the gravity and starts to live. The years pass by and the day is forever. There are fishes to be skinned and rice to be cooked and after eating, dishes to be washed studiously. So excuse me, I'm gonna go off and put the dishes in the dish washer.

Why is it wrong to be greedy or to "want more"?

by f00_ 13y ago

Why is it wrong to be greedy or to "want more"?

The word "greed" by definition implies wrong. It means that you want much more than you need. Because there are so many people that have less than they need.

bigd 13y ago

Because is not going to make you happy, and on the long term is going to damage the mankind. Keeping the hippy crap out of the discussion, the problem is that you are already suffering from of the greed of your parents. And for your sons will be even worst. Problem is that greed, most of the time make you choose for an easy income vs substantial growth. But the problem is probably deeper. Someone few days ago suggested this book. I invite you to give it a try. http://hn-books.com/Books/A-Guide-to-the-Good-Life-The-Ancient-Art-of-Stoic-Joy.htm http://hn-books.com/Books/A-Guide-to-the-Good-Life-The-Ancie...

logfromblammo 13y ago
Having more is great, up to a certain point. I think that point is probably after you can buy everything that you ever wanted for yourself, and still have some left afterward. After that, unless you actually hire someone to spend your money for you, or you learn to want bigger and more expensive things, you are turning the economic flow from a perpetual circulation into a one-way dead end.

noname123 13y ago

Hi f00_4, typically being greedy means 'capital accumulation' or wanting more 'respect' in a field or say athletic, sexual or intellectual prowess. Behind the desire is a desire for a cessation of anxiety or insecurity, e.g., if I become rich, then I want to travel the world. However the paradox, IMHO is that limitation is freedom, pain is joy. There is no bigger prison than having unstructured and unlimited amount of free time and capital. Personally, if it was up to me, I'd just wither away while playing Dota2, snort cocaine and numb myself with a personal harem of courtesans - which is just a dramatic device for what people in Western society do to "take the edge off" everyday. Without pain, we can't appreciate joy. The desire to escape pain and anxiety numbs our entire existence. I'd weave a self-narrative to "redeem" myself at the end of the tunnel, at 15 I'd become the next Kurt Cobain, at 18 the next Great American Writer, at 21 the next Mark Zuckerburg, at 25 the next AirBnB 'Software is Eating the Traditional World' entrepreneur, 27 the next Enterprise Software entrepreneur, 35 the next technical architect at a respectable software company, 40 the next C-level executive and amassing sizable personal fortune (all the time scaling in my personal and social relationships, of course). It is more liberating IMHO to accept my mediocrity and limitations. Than adding more layers of self delusion materialistic or intellectual or moral to get further stuck and perpetuate more lies. There is sometimes more joy and self-acceptance in a condemned man than a man condemned to the routines of capitalism. Not that kind of 'navel-gazing' self-denial seen in Western Zen monasteries, but the man on death row has finally ceased the struggle due to the gravity and starts to live. The years pass by and the day is forever. There are fishes to be skinned and rice to be cooked and after eating, dishes to be washed studiously. So excuse me, I'm gonna go off and put the dishes in the dish washer.