Good_Burning_Plastic comments on Disguised Queries - Less Wrong

57 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 09 February 2008 12:05AM

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Comment author: Bound_up 09 March 2015 07:29:06AM 0 points [-]

Christians allegedly follow the commandments because God told them to. They do what God told them to because of desire to avoid punishment, desire to obtain reward, desire to fulfill their perceived duty, or desire to express their love. They fulfill these desires because it makes them feel good/happy.

Atheists do whatever they do, most of them for the same reason, cut out the idea of it being centered around a personality who effects their happiness.

Harry said he preferred achieving things over happiness, but I can't help thinking that if he had sacrificed his potential, he wouldn't really have been happy about it, no matter how many friends he had.

At the end of the day, happiness drives at least most people, and in theory, all (when they make their decisions through careful consideration, and not just to fulfill some role or habit. As we know, this is rare, and in reality, most people can not trace their decisions' motivation to their happiness or anyone's, or to any other consistent value; so I opine).

Comment author: RichardKennaway 09 March 2015 11:57:33AM 1 point [-]

At the end of the day, happiness drives at least most people, and in theory, all

That sounds like a hidden tautology-by-definition. What is happiness? That which people act to obtain. Why do people act? To obtain happiness. Whatever someone does, you can say after the fact that they did it to make themselves happy.

Comment author: Good_Burning_Plastic 09 March 2015 12:46:38PM 2 points [-]

What is happiness?

It is a state of mind. So saying that someone is driven by happiness is not tautological -- it means that they have a perceptually determined utility function.