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Well, I've been thinking myself about why this question gets to me and why it seems so important.
If life's purpose where to be happy, what living is left when you can just take a pill to achieve that?
I think it boils down to the simplest definition I have for life's meaning: to be happy. Perhaps it isn't such an accurate definition, but I think it holds true for a heck of a lot of people. Most of the things we do in life, we do so in an effort to raise our level of happiness (what exactly brings happiness, varies of course, from person to person).
So, the problem of a drug that can chemically make you happy is that it would quite simply throw away any other purpose to living. Why play sports, solve problems, make friends, go out, plan anything at all, when you can quite simply just take a pill and reap the feelings that you would have achieved through other, more laborious, methods?
In fact, assuming we don't have to worry about earning enough money for shelter, feeding and medication, why does it rubs me the wrong way to conceive of a life that's little more than being a happy vegetable eternally hooked on a happiness-inducing drug?
"Induced happiness" is indiscernible from any other kind of happiness."Induced happiness", in my concern, is indiscernible from normal happiness, since the premise is that our moods and mental states are all fully chemically induced, and as such, possible to reproduce with the appropriate brain stimuli.
In brief, think back on your most joyous occasion in life. That moment where you couldn't feel better, that moment you cherish because, regardless of what was achieved (or how), it brought a great feeling of satisfaction with your own self. Now imagine being able to feel that great by simply taking a pill every day.
So, if you can achieve Nirvana in such an easy, accessible way, what possible motivation would there be to do anything else?
From a logical stand-point, it seems hard to say "we shouldn't do that," yet I just don't feel comfortable with the concept of living that way.
SK7000
over 11 years agoIf life's purpose where to be happy, what living is left when you can just take a pill to achieve that?
So, the problem of a drug that can chemically make you happy is that it would quite simply throw away any other purpose to living. Why play sports, solve problems, make friends, go out, plan anything at all, when you can quite simply just take a pill and reap the feelings that you would have achieved through other, more laborious, methods?
In fact, assuming we don't have to worry about earning enough money for shelter, feeding and medication, why does it rubs me the wrong way to conceive of a life that's little more than being a happy vegetable eternally hooked on a happiness-inducing drug?
"Induced happiness" is indiscernible from any other kind of happiness."Induced happiness", in my concern, is indiscernible from normal happiness, since the premise is that our moods and mental states are all fully chemically induced, and as such, possible to reproduce with the appropriate brain stimuli.
In brief, think back on your most joyous occasion in life. That moment where you couldn't feel better, that moment you cherish because, regardless of what was achieved (or how), it brought a great feeling of satisfaction with your own self. Now imagine being able to feel that great by simply taking a pill every day.
So, if you can achieve Nirvana in such an easy, accessible way, what possible motivation would there be to do anything else?
From a logical stand-point, it seems hard to say "we shouldn't do that," yet I just don't feel comfortable with the concept of living that way.