I’m curious why you chose these particular examples.
I wanted to think of better ones but was having trouble doing so, didn’t want to dedicate the time to doing so, and figured that it would be better to submit a mediocre exploratory post about a topic that I think is important than to not post anything at all.
More generally, whether or not you enjoy something is different from whether that thing, in the future, will make you happier. At points in this post you conflate those two properties.
I agree, and I think it would have been a good thing to discuss in the main post. “I know that I don’t like salads now; I think I could develop a taste for them, but I don’t want to or can’t bring myself to do so” is definitely a different thing than “I don’t like salads now, so I’m not going to eat them” and “I don’t like salads now and I don’t think that I could ever like them”.
By discussing the above point, I think it would have the benefit of being more clear about what exactly the problem is. In particular, that “I know that I don’t like salads now; I think I could develop a taste for them, but I don’t want to or can’t bring myself to do so” is a different problem.
The examples also give me elitist vibes: the implication seems to be that upper-class pursuits are just better, and people who say they don’t like them are more likely to be wrong.
I definitely don’t mean to imply that this is true. I personally don’t think that it is. But I do see how the examples I chose would give off that vibe, and I think it would have been better to come up with examples that demonstrate a wider range of “I know what I like” attitudes.
I definitely don’t mean to imply that this is true. I personally don’t think that it is.
Your perception of them stays similar when you flip the signs? (“I don’t like watching TV, I only read novels” becomes “yep, that person is probably mistaken about what they want/like.”)
In the example of TV vs. novels, no, but there are other examples where I do think so:
Live-like-the-locals vacation vs. tourist vacation
Doing home improvement stuff yourself vs. paying someone to do it for you
Biking everywhere vs. having a car
On balance, I’m actually not sure of what I think about whether “high class” things tend to provide more happiness than “low class” things, so I spoke too soon in the previous comment.
I wanted to think of better ones but was having trouble doing so, didn’t want to dedicate the time to doing so, and figured that it would be better to submit a mediocre exploratory post about a topic that I think is important than to not post anything at all.
I agree, and I think it would have been a good thing to discuss in the main post. “I know that I don’t like salads now; I think I could develop a taste for them, but I don’t want to or can’t bring myself to do so” is definitely a different thing than “I don’t like salads now, so I’m not going to eat them” and “I don’t like salads now and I don’t think that I could ever like them”.
By discussing the above point, I think it would have the benefit of being more clear about what exactly the problem is. In particular, that “I know that I don’t like salads now; I think I could develop a taste for them, but I don’t want to or can’t bring myself to do so” is a different problem.
I definitely don’t mean to imply that this is true. I personally don’t think that it is. But I do see how the examples I chose would give off that vibe, and I think it would have been better to come up with examples that demonstrate a wider range of “I know what I like” attitudes.
Your perception of them stays similar when you flip the signs? (“I don’t like watching TV, I only read novels” becomes “yep, that person is probably mistaken about what they want/like.”)
In the example of TV vs. novels, no, but there are other examples where I do think so:
Live-like-the-locals vacation vs. tourist vacation
Doing home improvement stuff yourself vs. paying someone to do it for you
Biking everywhere vs. having a car
On balance, I’m actually not sure of what I think about whether “high class” things tend to provide more happiness than “low class” things, so I spoke too soon in the previous comment.