From: Wei Dai (weidai@weidai.com)
Date: Fri Nov 15 2002 - 13:54:34 MST
On Fri, Nov 15, 2002 at 07:57:23AM -0800, Lee Corbin wrote:
> So long as our motivation isn't affected, why not obtain all
> the positive emotions that we can regardless of our progress
> towards our goals? Yes, it's a little tricky: one wishes to
> still be disappointed when one's project in Gratification
> Research or Mathematics (ultimately all that is left to do
> in the far future) fails. But why shouldn't one be ecstatically
> happy anyway? We can control our motivation by the time you
> refer to.
Is it possible to be ecstatically happy all of the time and still be
motivated to do anything? Assuming yes, if you do decouple those feelings
from motivation, then what makes joy joyful and pain painful? Today you
can tell when someone feels happiness or pain by observing their behavior.
(For example they'll avoid things that cause them pain.) How will you do
that when happiness and pain are no longer coupled with motivation? How
will you yourself know whether you're feeling joy or pain?
> There will be some so-called "hedonists" for which the above is true. But
> that's because they're not *true* hedonists. The true hedonist has great
> goals at least in Gratification Research.
I assume Gratification Research is about finding ways to feel great
happiness. But again, how do you tell when you've found it? Do you think
we'll eventually discover objective criteria for deciding which feelings
are more valuable than others?
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