Тонкое искусство пофигизма
Chapter 4
Sowhatwasreallylost?Justalotofattentionandadulation,whereaswhatwasgainedmeantsomuchmoretohim.
Thesestoriessuggestthatsomevaluesandmetricsarebetterthanothers.Someleadtogoodproblemsthatareeasilyandregularlysolved.Othersleadtobadproblemsthatarenoteasilyandregularlysolved.
ShittyValues
Thereareahandfulofcommonvaluesthatcreatereallypoorproblemsforpeople—problemsthatcanhardlybesolved.Solet’sgooversomeofthemquickly:
1.Pleasure.Pleasureisgreat,butit’sahorriblevaluetoprioritizeyourlifearound.Askanydrugaddicthowhispursuitofpleasureturnedout.Askanadultererwhoshatteredherfamilyandlostherchildrenwhetherpleasureultimatelymadeherhappy.Askamanwhoalmostatehimselftodeathhowpleasurehelpedhimsolvehisproblems.
Pleasureisafalsegod.Researchshowsthatpeoplewhofocustheirenergyonsuperficialpleasuresendupmoreanxious,moreemotionallyunstable,andmoredepressed.Pleasureisthemostsuperficialformoflifesatisfactionandthereforetheeasiesttoobtainandtheeasiesttolose.
Andyet,pleasureiswhat’smarketedtous,twenty-four/seven.It’swhatwefixateon.It’swhatweusetonumbanddistractourselves.Butpleasure,whilenecessaryinlife(incertaindoses),isn’t,byitself,sufficient.
Pleasureisnotthecauseofhappiness;rather,itistheeffect.
