Author Topic: EP239: A Programmatic Approach to Perfect Happiness  (Read 54491 times)

Scattercat

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Reply #75 on: April 07, 2010, 10:57:27 PM
I'm just pointing out that lots of things we do influence our brain chemistry.  Smiling changes your brain chemistry.  Looking at other smiling people changes your brain chemistry.  Eating food you like changes your brain chemistry.

Why is a pill different from ice cream, other than the fact that pills tend to have more pronounced effects?  Why would it be awesome if everyone got free ice cream in their favorite flavor whenever they were sad, but terrible if everyone got a pill to take that made them happier whenever they were sad?



CryptoMe

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Reply #76 on: April 08, 2010, 03:45:37 AM
Why would it be awesome if everyone got free ice cream in their favorite flavor whenever they were sad, but terrible if everyone got a pill to take that made them happier whenever they were sad?

Because ice cream is soooo tasty  ;D

Seriously, though, I think it has a lot to do with not taking the easy solution, but working to solve your real issues. A pill that is guaranteed to make you happy is not solving the underlying problem if one is truly depressed or unhappy about something. It just ends up forming a dependency (as does ice cream for some people). Even anti-depressants are not meant to be a long term solution, but a stop gap measure when someone is really stuck in a downward spiral. Most respectable psychiatrists will not simply prescribe an anti-depressant and then send you off. They will work to figure out what is making you depressed and then help you solve that. Also, the great thing about brain chemistry, which is different from most other autonomous body functions, is that (as Scattercat pointed out) it can be changed by your behaviour. So, isn't it worthwhile to learn how to do this yourself instead of being enslaved to big pharma? I guess, for me, it comes down to this: If I am stuck on a deserted island, do I want to be doomed to a life of depression when my pills run out?



Scattercat

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Reply #77 on: April 08, 2010, 04:00:08 AM
If you're stuck on a desert island, you're probably doomed to a life of depression anyway.  The social monkey brain really doesn't deal well with isolation.  ;-)



CryptoMe

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Reply #78 on: April 08, 2010, 04:38:03 AM
If you're stuck on a desert island, you're probably doomed to a life of depression anyway.  The social monkey brain really doesn't deal well with isolation.  ;-)

LOL!  Of course you know I was just using a hyperbole...



WillMoo

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Reply #79 on: April 19, 2010, 12:53:07 PM
I, for one, welcome our robotic dildo overlords.  :D

Didn't really care for the story.



Eliyanna Kaiser

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Reply #80 on: May 03, 2010, 05:28:25 PM
I think what I liked best about this one was that the inevitable robot takeover was sort of innocent. The robots were just trying to re-make the world so they could be happy.

If you must mount the gallows, give a jest to the crowd, a coin to the hangman, and make the drop with a smile on your lips.
-Birgitte, R. Jordan's Wheel of Time


justenjoying

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Reply #81 on: January 23, 2012, 03:23:46 AM
This seemed like a bad summary of Eros, Philia, Agape (EP250) by  Rachel Swirsky. This used the same ideas, but in
a creepy and invading way at the end. It just did not hold up to the afore mentioned story and had almost all the same ideas
within it though handled very differently I can't help but compare them and not many storys hold even a glint to Swirsky.
Thus I'm luke warm on this story if that.



Unblinking

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Reply #82 on: February 27, 2012, 05:18:01 PM
This seemed like a bad summary of Eros, Philia, Agape (EP250) by  Rachel Swirsky. This used the same ideas, but in
a creepy and invading way at the end. It just did not hold up to the afore mentioned story and had almost all the same ideas
within it though handled very differently I can't help but compare them and not many storys hold even a glint to Swirsky.
Thus I'm luke warm on this story if that.

I had pretty much the reverse view on that.  But that's not too surprising since I almost always like Pratt stories and almost never like Swirsky stories.  Just a matter of tastes I suppose.