CronoDAS comments on The Benefits of Rationality? - Less Wrong

18 Post author: cousin_it 31 March 2009 11:17AM

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Comment author: CronoDAS 31 March 2009 08:58:20PM 3 points [-]

No, feelings won't do. If feelings turn you on, do drugs or get religious.

Most drugs that have large, noticeable positive effects on mood (cocaine, amphetamines, opiates, MDMA, etc.) are expensive, risky to acquire, and become less effective over time as the body's feedback systems adjust to compensate for the presence of the drug. Most commonly prescribed psychiatric medications (Prozac, etc.) have only small, minor effects.

If one has six months to live, spending it doing cocaine and heroin is a reasonable way to maximize personal pleasure, but if you don't plan on dying any time soon, their long-term effects make them a bad deal even from a pure hedonistic perspective.