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cousin_it comments on Overpaying for happiness? - Less Wrong Discussion
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Yeah, point taken.
As an aside, I'm not sure that status-derived happiness is always zero-sum. Imagine a society where everyone considers themselves worthless compared to Cthulhu. You can make everyone feel better about their status by explaining that Cthulhu doesn't exist. You can do the same in our world as well, by substituting "Cthulhu" with "photoshopped supermodels".
Agreed. The main caveat I had in mind is that communities are not fixed- it's easy for everyone to be a big fish in a little pond if there are lots of little ponds and people weight most of their time towards the ponds in which they are big. See the Loser section of the Gervais Principle, but also note the caveat there that there are big status competitions that it's problematic to try to opt out of.
Or you could even invent a new anti-Cthulhu for everyone to feel better than.