From: Dan Fabulich (daniel.fabulich@yale.edu)
Date: Tue Sep 19 2000 - 18:22:39 MDT
Jason Joel Thompson wrote:
> I don't think you're really choosing between happiness and productivity
> here, since ostensibly, what you hope to buy with your productivity is long
> term happiness.
>
> If the question is, do you think one should trade short term happiness for
> long term happiness? The answer is yes.
I should have qualified the claim: the tradeoff is between happiness
today and productivity today. Productivity today yields happiness
tomorrow, of course.
Unfortunately, I KNEW that; knowing that doesn't settle the matter.
If my chances of survival are independent of what I do, then it seems I
should focus on happiness today.
But if my chances of survival depend a lot on my productivity today,
as it well might, since very few people seem to be working on
technology that will keep me alive, then it seems I should focus on
productivity today, even at a trade off for happiness today.
> I'm curious to hear how you're evaluating each career's ability to
> substantially increase your survivability.
Well, of the career choices I can think of that are available to me,
I'd say that the most likely to increase my survival (and, perhaps,
long term happiness,) is work in biomedical engineering; either by
doing actual research or going into biomedical engineering patent law
and reinvesting much of my earnings. Next is probably computer
science/programming. Philosophy ranks dead last. :)
What to do... what to do...
Disclaimer: I'm only making a claim about what seems likely to
increase MY OWN survivability and ultimate happiness; your preferences
and skill set may vary substantially from mine and yield an entirely
different list. Your mileage may vary.
-Dan
-unless you love someone-
-nothing else makes any sense-
e.e. cummings
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