AlephNeil comments on How to Be Happy - Less Wrong

129 Post author: lukeprog 17 March 2011 07:22AM

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Comment author: AlephNeil 17 March 2011 09:35:39AM *  7 points [-]

This is a great post. I don't mean to hijack it, but it's amusing to me to match up the happiness advice with my own life. So skipping over 1 and 2 on the list:

  1. -
  2. -
  3. I'm extremely introverted, cannot read body language or facial expressions very well. For instance, I scored 22 in this.
  4. I'm very low in self-esteem.
  5. I have a tendency to be "disagreeable", as I'm sure several people on this website would agree.
  6. It's not far wrong to say that I procrastinate away 100% of my waking hours.
  7. Well OK, I do feel gratitude to the people who are funding my current existence. But perhaps 'gratitude to' is the wrong phrase. More like 'guilt at wasting the resources of'.
  8. I have no sense of purpose whatsoever. (I certainly don't believe in the Lesswrong ideology! For instance, I'm not a utilitarian, I don't think "explicit utility functions and priors" are at all the right way to think about building an AI, I disagree with the fundamental premise that there isn't anything stupid (as opposed to unfriendly) about optimizing paperclips. I don't think cryonics is worthwhile. I don't think UFAI is necessarily a dangerous existential threat - I flatly don't buy the "it can escape any box" arguments. I think 'peak oil' and even global warming are much more important threats for the foreseeable future. I don't think doing mathematics is the right way to begin thinking about friendliness, although this mathematics is interesting in its own right, which is really the main reason why I'm here.)
  9. I'm unemployed and not looking, without even a half-serious plan about 'what to do next'. (I'm not claiming benefits either. That takes even more effort than working!)
  10. Of course I don't have a romantic partner.
  11. I stay indoors 24/7.
  12. I rarely 'challenge myself' with any kind of non-trivial task.
  13. I'm never 'mindful' in that sense, except 'mindful' of how I'm wasting my life.
  14. Aha! Well at least I'm avoiding consumerism since I never actually buy anything.

Funnily enough, I don't feel unhappy, or at least I don't feel as though I feel unhappy. I do think killing myself would 'objectively make things better' though.

Comment author: brilee 17 March 2011 08:40:07PM 8 points [-]

I think I've been in a similar situation. Last year, I decided that I didn't like how my happiness fluctuated with events that happened in the outside world. I metaphorically detached myself from the world, so that I didn't particularly care what happened to my life. It had gotten to the point where the question, "Where do you see yourself in five, ten years?" was not even in the space of thoughts that I entertained. Then, I got a girlfriend (she asked me out), and I was immensely happy for a few months until we broke up. Before the relationship, I wasn't particularly unhappy, nor was I happy. But the relationship helped me realize that severing yourself from the world leads to a stale existence. You have to learn how to plug yourself back into the world and find a low-volatility way to find happiness from your pursuits.

Comment author: lukeprog 17 March 2011 09:51:57AM 4 points [-]

Well at least you don't feel unhappy!

One concern I didn't mention above is that unfortunately, pursuing happiness consciously can in some cases lead to unhappiness, because you are constantly paying attention to how happy or unhappy you are, and over-analyze the situation. So if you decide to try to change any of these things, probably best to pursue them for their own sake rather than for the sake of happiness, since you don't feel unhappy today.

</unsolicited advice>

Comment author: mutterc 18 March 2011 02:09:47AM 8 points [-]

I have a tendency to be "disagreeable", as I'm sure several people on this website would agree.

I disagree.

Comment author: Omegaile 25 July 2012 07:15:51PM 3 points [-]

Just out of curiosity, how are you now, a little more than a year later? Taking out "3", that seems harder to change, how much of these points still apply in your life?

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