What is Digg?126 Comments
- picsectionpleez, on 10/13/2007, -8/+44Boobs
- SimianSamurai, on 10/13/2007, -7/+34Or boobs. Boobs make me happy.
- natedouglas, on 10/11/2007, -4/+30It results in comparison shopping and buyer's remorse, to be sure.
One of my favorite sociological theories is that of the "marriage marketplace" (might have it wrong, not a sociologist, don't flame me if I'm calling it by the wrong name). People in western societies tend to view a relationship as a sort of purchase, literally shopping around for mates. This is believed to be one reason why marriages are occurring later in life, resulting in divorce more often, and in general becoming more rare and being pushed back in favor of cohabitation or long engagements.
But in countries and societies where marriages are arranged or divorces just don't happen, the marriage itself is reported as being far happier and more harmonious throughout its duration. In other words, because you don't really have a choice, the little things about him or her just don't bug you as much, and you might not make the conscious attempt at withdrawal or conflict that would result in damage to the relationship.
So you can view increased freedom as being a bad thing; social conservatives certainly would, and do attempt to fight the crumbling of institutions like marriage, religion, and shared social conceptions of what is right (ie, capitalism is good, pornography bad, drug use bad, homosexuality bad, etc). This is a large part of the arguments we see against liberalism: "What good has secularization done? We have more drug addicts, more broken homes, more crime, more homosexuals, and more atheists than ever before?"
As an anarchist, I tend to see this "Problem of Freedom" as a result of incomplete freedom. All our lives, we are educated about living life as a restricted being. Your parents teach you (essentially) what you need to do to gain another human being's love. In school, you do not learn how to learn; rather you are presented with a list of ideas to consume and regurgitate for the next test. Very few people, proportionally, have jobs that involve critical thought, decision-making, or devising and implementing a plan; rather, it's mostly working in accordance with established rules and procedures.
This is not to say that people are incapable of overcoming their parents' flawed psychology, the hierarchical model of education, or the "gear in a machine" model of industry. There are plenty of visionaries in almost every field.
But realistically, it is easy to understand why most people have problems making their own choices. Look at the correlations between education level, poverty, obesity, alcoholism, other drug addiction, IQ scores, and just about every other factor you can figure out. It's not that poor people are inherently stupid, or that fat people are inherently poor, or anything like that -- and correlation certainly does not prove causation -- but could it be that the reason that success seems to totally elude 90% of the population is that they grew up without ever learning how to weigh alternatives, determine the best choice of action, and stick to it?
Losing weight is easy: exercise and put the fork down. Learning is easy: read a book and think about it. Quitting smoking is easy: just don't light up. Keeping your marriage together is easy: just never consider divorce.
What we will realize, once everyone internalizes the concept of individual liberty and individual responsibility, is that as long as you allow other people to define pleasure for you (as Twinkies, as tobacco, as one-night stands), you will never be happy. Instead, you will become less and less happy, and might even kill yourself eventually, because you have been pursuing pleasure.
The only way to change this is to educate your own children, if you have them, as fully as you can about the consequences of their decisions in an honest, substantive, and profound manner. Don't be a "helicopter parent." Don't engage in thought-terminating cliches like "Why? Because I/God/the Government said so." Don't let the public schools teach your kids that they're only correct if someone in authority likes their answers, that nothing is worth completing enough to sit through the bell at the end of class, that they need permission to take care of their bodily needs, that learning is a dull, mindless, and painful process.
In short, get your kids the ***** out of public school, quit your job, renew your wedding vows, sell all your *****, and buy a farm and grow everything you eat. Maybe we can be neighbors. *sigh* A boy can dream, can't he? - inactive, on 10/11/2007, -2/+21But according to this guy, too many boobs will make you unhappy..which begs the question: Is there really such a thing as too many boobs?
- DreKor, on 10/10/2007, -0/+18I had a professor who called this the Cereal Aisle Problem. People liked corn flakes when they were the only choice and had no difficulty buying them. But now, there are hundreds of possibilities. Because people have not tried every cereal on the market, they hold out hope that there is always something better than what they have. This means that they cannot allow themselves to be happy since they probably don't have the "best" thing.
Anyway, I like Captain Crunch. - dudad, on 10/13/2007, -0/+17Ignorance is bliss. Smarter people are less happy. Most of us accept the authority that is over us instead of fighting it. But I ask you, what is this happiness? Is it merely not having choices, overcoming dilemmas, or the lack of pain? Or is it something deeper? Until you define happiness arbitrary statements about what makes us happy will be unsatisfactory.
- EmperorAnton, on 10/10/2007, -1/+17Does the freedom of choice results in the never ending pursuit of happiness?
- essellewohc, on 10/10/2007, -3/+16A paradoxical perspective that having more choices can actually make us unhappy. In my point of view, what's inner shows on the outer. In this case, the innate unhappiness is probably a portrayal of his inability to know what he wants. Nonetheless, a good article!
- natedouglas, on 10/11/2007, -0/+12"A paradoxical perspective that having more choices can actually make us unhappy."
Precisely why Linux-users are never happy. - AdionC, on 10/10/2007, -1/+12Too many boobs won't make you unhappy, it will only make you unhappy if you have to choose between them.
- maxputer, on 10/13/2007, -5/+15We would all be happier living under a dictator... what a complete ass... this is a such a large jump from picking which photo is best, it's absolutely ludicrous for the author to speculate we may all be happier under a dictator... what complete rot... I am astounding so many people dugg this story...
- natedouglas, on 10/11/2007, -1/+11If I were a dictator, I would outlaw ellipses. I know I would be happier.
And yes, you are astounding. - natedouglas, on 10/11/2007, -1/+11My "utopia" basically consists of a bunch of philosopher-farmers sitting around, smoking dope. I've heard that Thomas Jefferson's vision of the USA was something along those lines. :-)
- Supadude, on 10/11/2007, -1/+11But what if you had to choose! Might as well kill yourself.
- inactive, on 10/11/2007, -0/+9::slits wrists::
- Nougat, on 10/10/2007, -3/+12Proof that this guy is wrong.
- maxputer, on 10/11/2007, -2/+10Astounded, I am astounded. I apologize for screwing up the tenses.
- Sinistocrat, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6The guy who wrote this article misunderstood the entire point of the talks, and may even be a little stupid. Please don't judge Gilbert theory on happiness based on this article. Watch the TED talks instead. (http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/97)
How the hell do you go from favorite photos to happiness under dictatorship, and the ensuing justifications for ***** situations? - The_Dude, on 10/13/2007, -0/+5I think it's not having an adequate framework with which to make these unending choices that's the problem, not the volume of choices itself. This makes it sound like we're all just responding to a simple stimulus like ameobas or something every time we choose.
- rendereduseless, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5golden grahams are better
- androo, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5the video is a lot more interesting and informative than the article.
- doctechnical, on 10/10/2007, -1/+6"...we synthesise our happiness."
I know my Moog makes me happy. Vintage Analog, yummmm. - peterzero, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4which explains having a lot of money does not make people happier.
- jah434s, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4Or I can choose not too. Crap, now I'm unhappy. Thanks.
- mfaras, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4I totally agree with you, except I'm more reformist (and sad), and I won't leave the city by now, also I won't have children.
- john2kx, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6I think a night with Scarlett Johansson and Jessica Biel would make me happy.
- jrh_3, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4I think everyone is taking this a little to far. The author of the article does not give an accurate description of the video. The video is actually quite interesting.
The author says, "Taking this argument a step further one could"... This is a slippery slope argument and has nothing to do with the video. - Lacero, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4You can buy his book, Stumbling On Happiness.
- UnglueD, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4Followed by Beer Sandwiches
- GorfTron, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4As a salesman, I found that people always need a limited number of choices before they would make a choice. More choices means more doubt. This doubt was often shifted to their opinion of me as a salesman. People are happy when a salesman says "This thing will do what you need." more than the guy that sits down and broods with them.
- sofaKing812, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4I'm coo-coo for Cocoa Puffs!
- Misogyny, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3I once asked a bunch of people at work if they would rather be ugly and a genius, or beautiful and stupid. The vast majority chose the latter.
- GMorgan, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3That's just people being idiotic in the face of choice though. Choice is there for you to be able to get the best in areas you care strongly about or are financially relevant to you. For 80% of stuff, average is fine.
Personally I've never worried if I was getting the best box of cornflakes, they are uninteresting enough that any box will do. - mfaras, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Well, I think I can agree with you.
First, let's start by saying that the extrapolation of the conclusions is a bit extreme. You can say, with some luck, that in a democratic and liberal society, people that are pursuing a self-motivated goal and then are forced to take an almost meaningless decision, and are given a choice to repent, will repent and not be satisfied.
This has nothing to do with people living in freedom vs. people living in dictatorships!
This assumption can only be made out of complete ignorance of the scientific method and is, by all means, invalid.
I think it's easy to want to be more comfortable with the fact that our societies are becoming more and more fascist-like and attribute it to some misguided conclusion based on a simple experiment by a conductivist psychologist. - pmac, on 10/11/2007, -1/+4If there are more than 2, then there are too many.
- Takalth, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Another example of a study which can show some insight but is entirely misinterpreted. The photo study does illustrate one truth: People who insist on continually questioning a good choice in case there's a better one will damage their happiness.
It isn't having choices that causes unhappiness but unwillingness to commit to a choice. Instead of telling people that their choices should be taken away, teach them about committing to a choice and not worrying about it afterward. - 68024, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3But which one? The left one... or the right one?
- Metareality, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Digg - You're giving me what I want to read too much. According to this guy, I say screw the algorithm if you really want to make people happy. JK?
- GMorgan, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3There are loads of people who lose weight and quit smoking. They are usually glossed over by those who want to make out these things are more difficult than they are.
- SergeiGolos, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3it's funny that the question involves smoking and loosing weight. Both are easy to accomplish together. I started rock climbing to get strong and lose some weight.. and shortly after i really got into rock climbing, i didn't want to smoke anymore.
After a while i noticed that rock climbing by it self wasn't doing much for me. I added running biking and swimming, and after that the temptation to go back to smoking went away. - stutimandal, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2It's all in the mind :)
- wynja, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2What utter crap! The article is attempting to make an analogy between choosing photographs and living within a democracy versus a dictatorship. Ask if a Chinese individual is happy to have only one child and the rest be forced to sell or abort. Ask the Dali Lama and every Buddhist if they are happy to be forced from their homeland for their beliefs. Ask the Jews if they were happy to be rounded up and killed in concentration camps during WWII.
"Our youngsters have never been more unhappy and discontent. Possibly we give the kids too much freedom of choice. We provide them with all the latest mobile phones, clothes, music downloads and pocket money to hang around in the mall with. All that freedom of choice could in fact be making them unhappier. And all we want to do is make them happy!"
Don't be ridiculous. Children today have far less freedom that any other generation. Thirty years ago, a child of 12 would have been allowed roam free after school only to be home by say supper time. This child would have been completely unsupervised between the time school let out and supper. This would never happen today. Our children are not given such freedoms. In my town, there are no gathering places for children. When I was a child, we could go to the game room unsupervised at will. We'd ride our bikes down to it. Not today. Parents wouldn't dream of letting their children ride a bike 2-3 miles alone.
"Ever wondered why people love their jobs even if it means they spend eight hours a day being a drone. They do this because they do not have choice or freedom to do their own thing. That limitation is what makes them happy. And the most important component to this existence is that they get a pat on the head and a well done for their efforts."
Last time I checked everyone I know that spends 8 hours a day being a drone is miserable. They don't have a choice to open up there own business and take huge risk involved with such a venture. This is completely opposite of the life my grandfather lived and he was much happier with his life than any of my peer group.
Frankly, I am disgusted with the Orwellian logic presented in this text. - bdbr, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Watch the video; it was somewhat misinterpreted in the text.
Its not lack of freedom that makes us happy, but lack of WANT. The students in the Harvard experiment did have the freedom to choose which print they wanted, but one group wasn't provided the option of wanting the other one later.
In the U.S., we live in a society where we're constantly driven to want stuff, for obvious economic reasons. The percentage of U.S. commercial TV time today spent persuading you to want things has increased considerably in the past couple of decades (not to mention product placements). We've substituted satiation for happiness, and that often just leads to buyers remorse and desire for more, not any long-term happiness.
I'm not a big religious person so I don't know the rough timing, but it has occurred to me that it was a very long time ago that someone wrote a prayer that "I shall not want". Its strange that we treat this like some sort of new problem. - natedouglas, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2There ought to be a law against people taking Psych 101 and ignoring everything after the first class period.
- natedouglas, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Capitalism says so. Next time you're in the supermarket, look at the tabloid rack by the cashier. All of those magazines, with incredible circulation, have as their sole focus the abject misery of rich people.
- natedouglas, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2But what if they escaped? It could turn into a very sad 20-to-life :-(
- androo, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2i liked what i read but im also having trouble grasping this idea of freedom making you less happy. Perhaps its not that freedom makes you less happy but the fact that you are responsible for your current situation- the fear that you failed to make the right choice, or the fear that you will soon make another wrong decision that makes you less happy.
- heizusan, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2An inacurate article, making invalid assumptions about a psychological study.
The author is making a claim about having choices leading to unhappiness. But the real culprit is having the ability to change your mind, and not having the strength of character or confidence to believe you were right. The reason the 'no choice' option made people happier is because cognitive dissonance (subconscious rationalization) basically goes 'well, I picked this one. And I'm stuck with it. So it must be the one I wanted! Yay!'. Flawed logic - one thing the human brain is fantastic at. - natedouglas, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Actually, I have stopped smoking four or five times and quit smoking once (going on a year since I quit). It was the hardest thing I've ever done.
I used to be skinny and then ballooned up to 240 pounds. I've lost over twenty pounds, though, and I'm jogging Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, doing calisthenics seven days a week, and eating two salads and a bowl of cereal with 2% milk every day, with no dessert (so I've probably lost more than twenty pounds of flubber but gained some weight in muscle).
But to say these things were easy wasn't my point. In fact, I think they're incredibly difficult, as anyone who has quit smoking or gone on a tough diet will attest. It wasn't my point to say "I'm natedouglas and I'm better than all of you peons, and that's why I choose Anarchism™ so you don't hold me back." That's completely contrary to my (rather collectivist) ethics, and it also directly contradicts my total lack of willpower.
Our psychology, as a species, is not capable of easily dealing with attractive but harmful options. Throughout evolution, things that have been good for us have been tasty/pleasureable/fun, and things that are bad for us have been bitter/painful/lame. It's only recently, biologically speaking, that we've had to deal with deep-frying, Twinkies, heroin, cigarettes, and complete and total physical inaction. These things are all pleasureable. They're also terribly unhealthy.
Again: I'm not trying to say any of this is simple, or that I'm a strong person. - noumuon, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2cinnamon toast crunch ftw!
-
Show 51 - 100 of 123 discussions
Digg is coming to a city (and computer) near you! Check out all the details on our 
© Digg Inc. 2009
— Content created and posted by Digg users is