It seems to be the case that happiness is actually not caused by getting what you want, but rather by wanting what you get. It’s been challenging for me to square this psychological fact with the notion of utility maximization.
Although, I think your point might have been that I could have phrased that sentence more clearly without referring to utility.
Well, sure that may be true to the extent that you value happiness. What I was pointing out was that if you were completely miserable, saying “I should modify myself to prefer being miserable to being happy because then I’ll get some of that sweet, sweet utility” is just wacky.
Sure. I wasn’t defending the idea, or suggesting that we should do it. It is “wacky.” Regardless, it is a meme that other human beings actually try to implement.
It seems to be the case that happiness is actually not caused by getting what you want, but rather by wanting what you get. It’s been challenging for me to square this psychological fact with the notion of utility maximization.
It’s also a strange way to talk about utility—as if utility itself is what we want, rather than a measure of how much of what we want we’ve got.
It seems to be the case that happiness is actually not caused by getting what you want, but rather by wanting what you get. It’s been challenging for me to square this psychological fact with the notion of utility maximization.
Although, I think your point might have been that I could have phrased that sentence more clearly without referring to utility.
Well, sure that may be true to the extent that you value happiness. What I was pointing out was that if you were completely miserable, saying “I should modify myself to prefer being miserable to being happy because then I’ll get some of that sweet, sweet utility” is just wacky.
Sure. I wasn’t defending the idea, or suggesting that we should do it. It is “wacky.” Regardless, it is a meme that other human beings actually try to implement.
Nor did I think we disagreed.
Why? That just means that happiness is overrated.