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Ezekiel comments on Rationality Quotes April 2012 - Less Wrong
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I wasn't clear. Believing that would make me happy even if it wasn't true. There's no reason to assume reality would be nice enough to only hand us facts that we find satisfying.
If you happen to have a brain that finds the process of learning more satisfying than any possible falsehood, then that's great... But I don't think many people have that advantage.
You sound pretty confident that, if you believed that we were created as the pinnacle of design by a super-awesome Thing that had a specific plan in mind, and that your nation/tribe was even more pinnacle than everyone else, you would be happier than you are now.
Can you clarify your reasons for believing that? I mean, I grew up with a lot of people who believe that, and as a class they didn't seem noticeably happier than the people who didn't, so I'm inclined to doubt it. But I'm convinceable.
You got me, since during the time I did believe that I was a lot less happy than I am now, because that falsehood was part of a whole set of falsehoods which led to annoying obligations. But I do distinctly remember being satisfied with knowing the ultimate goal of the universe and my place in it, and how realising the truth made me feel unsatisfied.
The statement "the truth is never an unsatisfying thing" seems to be affect-heuristic reasoning: going from "truth is useful" to "truth is good" to "truth always feels good to know".
Sure. To the extent that you're simply arguing that the initial quote overreaches, I'm not disagreeing with you. But you seemed to be making more positive claims about the value of ignorance.
There's a substantial minority in the community that dislikes the Litany of Gendlin, so you have plenty of company here.
But even granting the premise that believing true things conflicts with being happy, believing true things has been useful for achieving every other type of goal. So it seems like you are endorsing trading off achievement of other goals in order to maximize happiness. Without challenging your decision to adopt particular terminal values, I am unsure if your chosen tradeoff is sustainable.
I'm not endorsing that, for exactly the reason you said: knowing stuff, on average, will let you achieve your goals. The original quote, though, stated that the truth is "never unsatisfying", which seemed to me to be a false statement.