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Life is mostly great!

My life's awesome I'd say
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Happy to hear it OP, I hope that "mostly" gets closer to "all the time" :)

The same goes for anyone going through tough periods right now or any point in the future. I may not know you personally, but we're all in this together.
 
Indeed it is. It's human nature to try to solve problems and so we tend to focus on the bad over the good. But Steven Pinker has shown empirically and scientifically that life is better than it ever has been in the history of humanity. Bad things still happen to good people but the smart ones recognise that on the balance of things, we still have it pretty damn good and just soldier on.
 
Your outlook on life will greatly improve the less time you spend on the internet/social media. Get a dog, go outside, talk to people.
 
matt404au said:
But Steven Pinker has shown empirically and scientifically that life is better than it ever has been in the history of humanity.
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My uneducated recollection is that his work is hotly debated, because his arguments have plenty of holes and metrics he opts to use are "questionable".
 
I take it one day at a time, but to be honest I am in a rinse and repeat lifestyle.
Everyday, every week is exactly the same but there are good moments.
I've had some bad times in the past, so I'm not complaining.

I'm very cynical and often negative, but I try to find humor from the daily things that do bother me.
 
Life isn't always great. But my life can be a lot worse than it is. So I'm grateful for what I have. And generally life is pretty good. It's just easier to see the negative rather than the good and I am guilty of that sometimes.
 
I found it helpful to learn about the negativity bias, our brains' tendency to be "velcro for bad experiences and teflon for good ones," and to pay roughly five times more attention to negative stuff (e.g., what's wrong) than to positive. Turns out, there are good evolutionary reasons why this is so. Once you're aware of this, you can counteract it to some degree in your head, and work to shift the balance.

I've suffered a lot in my life -- not as much as some, for sure, but it has been pretty tough at times. I've learned and grown a lot through those times, so I don't feel resentment or anything like that. I feel fine about it, even proud or grateful in some ways. A difficult life gives you opportunities for growth that an easy life doesn't.

For the past 5 years, though, my life has been going very well. I'm enjoying it. It's very smooth, peaceful, and mostly happy -- or I'd use the word "content," maybe. I've reached a point where I don't feel there is anything I have to achieve or accomplish, nothing that I have to do or prove. I've done everything I set out to do. I've grown in ways I needed to. The rest of life is just gravy. It's a nice place to be. It sure took a while to get there, though.
 
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Mine would be pretty good if I didn't have so much financial problems.

The bad choices I made in the past are still hurting me.
 
life is pretty amazing.

go and read some history books on the everyday lives of most people, and you will realize we live in a golden age right now. best time to be alive ever.
 
Humdinger said:
I found it helpful to learn about the negativity bias, our brains' tendency to be "velcro for bad experiences and teflon for good ones," and to pay roughly five times more attention to negative stuff (e.g., what's wrong) than to positive. Turns out, there are good evolutionary reasons why this is so. Once you're aware of this, you can counteract it to some degree in your head, and work to shift the balance.
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Sometimes I think negativity is a self imposed trick.

Like, if things seems bad, well it can only get better from here.
If everything seems good, the next turn is downhill.
 
Humans concentrate on the bad stuff, because that is the stuff that needs to be actively concentrated on.

Take a break from it every once in awhile and play with your stuff.
 
Life is a gift and I try and remind myself that every day.

Why even bother wasting time worrying about doom and gloom. Self pity and nihilism won't do shit.

Life is what you make of it!
 
matt404au said:
Uneducated sounds about right
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There has to be some sort of trauma where I've already made up my mind of what the book is and what is says before even reading it, and having these elaborate counter-arguments to claims that he is probably not even making in the book.

I imagine he's using child mortality as a metric, and GDP as a metric, etc yet i'm too lazy to actually read the book.

I guess there's something about those "empirically and scientifically proven" pro-status quo types that rub me the wrong way.
The bullshit detector goes off even without delving deep into it, sort of like when reading anything by nobel prize winning Daniel Kahneman, Krugman and other economists and assorted pseudo scientific bullshit peddlers.
 
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its aight & aight > great > sh!tty. sometimes the downs r just as good as the highs. getting ur as$ handed to you makes victory taste even more sweet. winning all the time may cause u to seek tougher more challenging competition/endeavors but losing all the time will cause to rethink ur strategy in life & experiment & try out different, new techniques to adapt to the tougher environment which will benefit u in the long run & then finally when ur on top of the mountain, u can relax & watch netflix & play video games until u turn into dust
 
RealGassy said:
There has to be some sort of trauma where I've already made up my mind of what the book is and what is says before even reading it, and having these elaborate counter-arguments to claims that he is probably not even making in the book.

I imagine he's using child mortality as a metric, and GDP as a metric, etc yet i'm too lazy to actually read the book.

I guess there's something about those "empirically and scientifically proven" pro-status quo types that rub me the wrong way.
The bullshit detector goes off even without delving deep into it, sort of like when reading anything by nobel prize winning Daniel Kahneman, Krugman and other economists and assorted pseudo scientific bullshit peddlers.
Click to expand...

Does your bullshit detector have the same reaction when people appeal to the authority of climate change science they haven't read/don't understand?

lol @ calling Daniel Kahneman a pseudoscientific bullshit peddler
 
Life is always great if you let go of the need for circumstances to be a certain way. Accept what comes as it comes, and all is well, even the "bad" parts. Pain, sorrow, sickness, poverty, loss, etc. are just the other side of the coin of pleasure, joy, health, wealth, fulfillment, etc. They come inextricably bound as a package.

The need for "happiness" is the seed of "unhappiness".
 
matt404au said:
lol @ calling Daniel Kahneman a pseudoscientific bullshit peddler
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I have a very high bar to what qualifies as science, most of that stuff is "scientism" or as Richard Feynman would call it "cargo-cult science".

matt404au said:
Does your bullshit detector have the same reaction when people appeal to the authority of climate change science they haven't read/don't understand?
Click to expand...
Not really. I can entertain the thought that they are wrong, and even if they are wrong the policies the sustainable environment activists push for are generally positive.
For the most part. I don't see the "oh, no, we were wrong, climate change wasn't caused by humans after all, oh no, what have we done" scenario.

I can however very easily imagine how human population, which has grown by ~840 mil in last 10 years alone (2.5x US population every 10 years), and couple bils in your life time depending on when you were born, could cause some ... environmental strain.
 
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matt404au said:
Indeed it is. It's human nature to try to solve problems and so we tend to focus on the bad over the good. But Steven Pinker has shown empirically and scientifically that life is better than it ever has been in the history of humanity. Bad things still happen to good people but the smart ones recognise that on the balance of things, we still have it pretty damn good and just soldier on.
Click to expand...

This can only be true if we have established a value hierarchy so that we associate a good life with high values for certain metrics such as access to health services, education, food, etc. When the baseline for so many people is high in comparison to old times it makes sense that they would be prone to misery. Many times this baseline is artificially heightened via social networks.

If we want a "happy population" it is just as important to have good metrics as it is to have such a population being able to experience it. I don't see how we can do this without an overpowered government or religious institution, bringing about artificial conflicts. Softer solutions would be akin to mandatory military service. Perhaps making people experience a difficult era in human history via virtual reality. I don't know.
 
C4lukin2 said:
Then you are looking at just the bad stuff. Lots of really fun ridiculously insane fun stuff to play with.
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Some people involuntarily view the world through a different lens and it just plain sucks. I have a decent job, friends, family and living situation but my interactions with the world just make me feel like I don't belong here.
 
RealGassy said:
I have a very high bar to what qualifies as science, most of that stuff is "scientism" or as Richard Feynman would call it "cargo-cult science".


Not really. I can entertain the thought that they are wrong, and even if they are wrong the policies the sustainable environment activists push for are generally positive.
For the most part. I don't see the "oh, no, we were wrong, climate change wasn't caused by humans after all, oh no, what have we done" scenario.

I can however very easily imagine how human population, which has grown by ~840 mil in last 10 years alone (2.5x US population every 10 years), and couple bils in your life time depending on when you were born, could cause some ... environmental strain.
Click to expand...

Are you so gassy because you're full of shit?

Yeah, some random guy on a gaming forum is in a position to discredit the work of distinguished professors who aren't up to his standards 😂
 
SKM1 said:
This can only be true if we have established a value hierarchy so that we associate a good life with high values for certain metrics such as access to health services, education, food, etc. When the baseline for so many people is high in comparison to old times it makes sense that they would be prone to misery. Many times this baseline is artificially heightened via social networks.

If we want a "happy population" it is just as important to have good metrics as it is to have such a population being able to experience it. I don't see how we can do this without an overpowered government or religious institution, bringing about artificial conflicts. Softer solutions would be akin to mandatory military service. Perhaps making people experience a difficult era in human history via virtual reality. I don't know.
Click to expand...

He has established the metrics. You don't need to go and reinvent the wheel. Go and read first.
 
matt404au said:
He has established the metrics. You don't need to go and reinvent the wheel. Go and read first.
Click to expand...

Your insufferability would be justified if you learned to read. I'm not talking about defining metrics. They are obviously defined, but they are nothing more than conventions.

I was trying to be nice but the saying that one can "scientifically show that life is better" is patently absurd.

EDIT: If things were clear cut as you would wish then there would not be doubts about Sam Harris' project of giving objective foundations to moral questions. This is not the case.
 
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matt404au said:
Indeed it is. It's human nature to try to solve problems and so we tend to focus on the bad over the good. But Steven Pinker has shown empirically and scientifically that life is better than it ever has been in the history of humanity. Bad things still happen to good people but the smart ones recognise that on the balance of things, we still have it pretty damn good and just soldier on.
Click to expand...
Nah.

Life's a BITCH! AND THEN YOU DIEEEE!
 
SKM1 said:
Your insufferability would be justified if you learned to read. I'm not talking about defining metrics. They are obviously defined, but they are nothing more than conventions.

I was trying to be nice but the saying that one can "scientifically show that life is better" is patently absurd.

EDIT: If things were clear cut as you would wish then there would not be doubts about Sam Harris' project of giving objective foundations to moral questions. This is not the case.
Click to expand...

"Life is better than it has ever been" doesn't mean that all suffering has been alleviated. It just means that in relative terms, there is less suffering than there ever has been. Primarily due to economic growth and poverty reduction.

You sound like a pussy though so maybe you personally are suffering more than your grandparents did. That doesn't necessarily mean that the applied load is any higher — it could simply mean that the foundations are weaker.
 
Been on this odd WW1 binge after seeing 1917.

Yea... Life's pretty amazing for me right now. It's all about perspective.
 
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