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ameriver comments on How to Be Happy - Less Wrong
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Pain is not always useful information.
Once I've burned my hand, turned off the burner, and treated the burns, my pain becomes much less helpful, and much more likely to distract me from whatever I might want to get done over the next few weeks. Particularly if I'm intelligent enough to remember the hand is injured and not re-injure it.
Also, for example, phantom pain from amputated limbs.
Lingering pain more-or-less keeps one from overusing an injured body part. (AFAIK phantom pain is entirely dysfunctional.)
Agreed. I do think that in some cases (most humans) we could do with a fair bit less of the lingering pain, and that is why I use painkillers when injured and treat my symptoms when ill (generally speaking).
In reference to the original discussion, unhappiness and anger tend to be more like lingering pain than the instant pain of injury. And while these negative emotions are useful, we often do not need the full "dosage" that our brain supplies (of course, the dosage varies widely from person to person)