Humans are animals. You cannot be happy since happyness is only a reward circuit in your brain that rewards your actions due to certain outcomes or if you see that youre working towards a goal. Human behavior is not fundamentally different from that of animals. Its just that our neural circuits are far more complex and we can understand certain things better than other animals.
If you want happyness you need to get a goal and then make a plan with small steps to achieve it. Then you need a reward system for every step in your plan. Especially when youre depressed, it helps to get a reward for even setting up goals. I call this method self conditioning and i use chocolate for achieving small goals and sip of a special drink i lile for setting up goals (no alcohol but it does the trick for me). After some conditioning, a habit will have formed. Youll be able to do the behaviors much easyer and then automatically. For me, music helps to get going. I hope you will put this information to good use and this thread is about scientifical facts and practical application of knowledge in the everyday life. Post your tips and experiences. Please no shitposting.
I very much believe your right I'm a semi successful young home owner that's married that enjoys hard drugs very much but dosnt abuse them to any extreme... just a small bit pushing bounds and small goals help keep me going strong.... bills first then party just my drunken high 2 cents s at 6 in the morning on a monday do what you love love what you do...or die miserable
Ayden Carter
>this thread is about scientifical facts
Lol...
Anyway, this is actually one of the better threads I've seen on Sup Forums in a while and virtually everything here is more or less true. All I would add is this:
>Keeping a list of goals that you update at least weekly is the majority of the battle.
>Eat healthier. That doesn't mean eat a slice of cake and then "work it off," it means not eating cane sugar, processed foods, watching your sodium levels, and avoiding high fructose corn syrup. You'll be amazed at how much more alert you'll feel.
> Stay hydrated. Again, you'll be amazed at how alert you feel.
>Don't seek out happiness in other people. No girl will make you happy.
>Anytime you envy a beautiful woman, just remember - no matter how good she looks or what qualities she has - somebody, somewhere is sick of her shit.
Good luck guys
David Cox
thanks for contributing. Yeah i said this scientific fact thing to hopefully enhance the quaility of posts.
Evan Thomas
The reason it's funny is because "scientifical" isn't a word. I have more to contribute:
>For your virgins out there, sex isn't what you're making it out to be. It's fun, but you eventually get kind of bored with it. It's a lot more meaningful and intense if there's intimacy, but even that comes with a ton of maintenance.
>You might find your goals change as you get older.
> If you go to college, for god's sakes don't get a degree in something stupid like psychology or english. Get a degree in something marketable or, better yet, just go to trade school and save up money before you decide to go to college.
Gavin Young
Could you elaborate on the processed foods thing ? What should I eat ?
Zachary White
this
Jace Price
Wow dude you've got it all figured out! :DD
Jonathan Miller
Hypocrite that you are for you trust the chemicals in your brain to tell you they are chemicals, all knowledge is ultimately based on that which we cannot prove. >Will you fight or will you perish like a dog?
John Cox
>" You cannot be happy since happyness [sic] is only a reward circuit in your brain that rewards your actions ..." ;
..... I would be inclined to agree with you, if (and only if) there was always an evolutionary advantage to the experience of happiness within the scenario wherein the happiness is experienced.
I find it hard to believe that there is any evolutionary advantage acquired by becoming happy:
..... merely because I am listening to (what I perceive to be) "great" music, when I am alone, and (particularly when) lacking some of the basic necessities of life, or imminent ability to propagate my genes.
We're just supposed to keep busy until the ride's finally over.
No more survival No more looking for shelter No more mate & bolt No more exploring
Instant gratification is what we thrive on, and it's a sickening, draining concept. Because no matter how many illusions or.. goals if you will.. we give ourselves, you'll eventually reach it or fail. Drawing in the next 'goal' to complete. But nothing really adds up in terms of quality of life. We just add comfort, think less, move less and bit by bit we destroy what we once called human.
The future's going to be grim guys. Take care and be 'happy' on this god aweful rock. It's all we have left.
Aiden Kelly
Its straightforward why it has an evolutionary advantage:
>human wants to be happy >human is not happy >human will be happy if he kills things to eat and works his way towards a woman >human survives and his genes are passed on to the next gen
>human cannot be happy >human doesnt experience that he can do something to feel happy so it doesnt learn to do something to feel better >human doesnt care about doing anything >human dies
Joseph Brown
I mostly agree, except a girl did make me happy. Granted, when she rejected me, she made me really sad, but still. Do you really not believe that there are no girls out there that can genuinely improve the lives of men?
Samuel Harris
> " It's straightforward why it has an evolutionary advantage: ..." ; ..... I have considered your answer, and (previously) pondered the same argument, but already rejected it for several reasons.
> "... human wants to be happy ..." ; ..... yes, I accept that :- being "happy" is usually (but not always) desirable as an alternative to the converse.
> "... human is not happy ..." ; ..... sometimes human does not want to be happy - maybe first-born child has just died in tragic circumstances - it makes sense: that human actually wants to be unhappy (for a while) - it is not a joyous occasion, and grieving seems to be a necessary mechanism.
> "... human will be happy if he kills things to eat and works his way towards a woman ..." ; ..... I don't see how the solitary enjoyment of great music necessarily helps to achieve either of those ends. In fact it would appear to impede the attainment of those basic necessities of life and negate any evolutionary advantages.
> "... human survives and his genes are passed on to the next gen ..." ; ..... it seems to me to be obvious that spending time listening to great music would reduce the likelihood of either of those imperatives.
> "... human cannot be happy ..." ; ..... but nevertheless I DO feel happy - despite any appalling disadvantages, if I am listening to great music.
> "... human doesn't experience that he can do something to feel happy so it doesn't learn to do something to feel better ..." ; ..... but I do feel better - just by listening to that great music - regardless of any dwindling hopes of survival or propagation of my genes. ..... > "... human doesn't care about doing anything ..." ; ..... possibly - if listening to great music.
> "... human dies " ..... so where is the evolutionary advantage in the (very widespread) enjoyment of (what most humans perceive to be their own preferences regarding) "great music" ?
i'm "happy" though lol, really never in a bad mood anyway umad
Ian Wright
Firstly, great music didnt exist back then. Secondly, even if there were some things which make you feel happy that are bad for you, there are far more which are good for you.
Thirdly, if my hypothesis was wrong and yours was right, happyness would be bad for humans and happyness as a trait would be reduced after every generations since it would decrease their fitness.
The very fact that happyness as such exists is empirical evidence for my argument.
William Peterson
correction, there definitely are things which are bad for you that make you happy, but i think there are few which existed thousands of years into the past.
Kayden Flores
well, if you think my whole point was that you cant be happy in any circumstances, you misinterpreted what i meant.
Nathan Foster
Implying you do everything by the book and you don't end up dying like a dog anyways >Here for a good time not a long time babe that's my motto
Chase Carter
> "... The very fact that happyness [sic] as such exists is empirical evidence for my argument. " ..... In my opinion, the very fact that happiness is widely attained by listening to great music in preference to seeking practical improvements in personal survival, or the propagation of one's own genes is empirical evidence against your argument regarding evolutionary advantage.
I mean work it throught in your head >what is evolution >what is natural selection >what is the biggest experiment run on evolution >what is the status quo >why is the status quo of the gen pool a good estimate about evolutionary fitness ? >how long do humans exist ?
youre right, there are examples which are not natural an relatively new from an evolutionary standpoint such as hard drugs. but why should music be bad for you ?
What are you even arguing about m8 ?
Oliver Turner
> " Dude i said no sihtposting please. " ;
..... I apologise if my contributions come across that way. I was merely attempting to engage in serious intellectual discourse regarding a dichotomy between any evolutionary imperative and the almost universal human enjoyment of great music.
>find work you like, and find someone to live with you like
it's simple goiis
Robert Taylor
> "... What are you even arguing about m8 ? " ;
The premise that you seemed to be advancing in (your) OP:
> "... You cannot be happy since happyness is only a reward circuit in your brain that rewards your actions due to certain outcomes or if you see that you're working towards a goal. ..." ;
Which seems to me to be totally wrong and self-contradictory on more than one level.
No offence intended. Just hoping I might get a better insight into what you were talking about and whether you might be advancing some worthwhile (non-contradictory) ideas.
I mean i had to laugh when i reread your statements since your language is forced and this happyness [sic] is funny, too. Also youre not making a real argument while sounding really educated, so i supposed that was your intention.
However, I think youre overcomplicating things far too much and didnt make a aclear argument, such that I suppose your education in natural sciences is not as good as your education in the english and latin language, or music.
Kevin Nguyen
Oh you were taking my words literally ? I have to admit if you do that, its contradictory.
Are you really forcing me to write a coherent text about my OP ? I mean, you understand my message, yes ?
Isaiah Miller
Lets do this: ask me what you dont understand or what even after further inquiry seems strange to you, ill answer and then ill leave since i cant lurk forever.
Robert Peterson
You cannot be happy since happyness is only a reward circuit in your brain that rewards your actions due to certain outcomes or if you see that you're working towards a goal.
>"You cannot be happy" refers to the idea that people need to be in a constant state of happyness and that theyr state of happiness is somehow something they have direct control over. I dont agree with that.
>"since happyness is only a reward circuit in your brain" You can be happy your brain is in a state of happiness which is triggered by neurons firing and neurochemicals. What makes people happy over a long timespan and leave them not constantly depressed (increases overall happiness) or just momentary happiness is your brain perceiving that you are successfully working towards a self defined goal.
>"rewards your actions due to certain outcomes" If you dont work towards your self defined goals the part of your brain which rewards you for actions that are good for you will not be active, but if you are successfull in that, you will be in a state of happiness for a certain amount of time.
Is this a bit better ?
Charles Nelson
> " But I have to ask: Were you serious ? ..." ; ..... Yes. I really do love great music and it makes me happy despite any difficulties that I have ever experienced. Sure - I might have been more prudent if I had been more proactive in tackling the roots of those problems - but in doing so, I cannot imagine that I would have been nearly as happy as I had been in listening to the music that I sought to make me happy.
> "... I suppose your education in natural sciences is not as good as your education in the english and latin language, or music. " ;
I have spent most of my adult life as a Lecturer in Further and Higher Education - mostly Science based : broadly within the Information Technology and associated Mathematics.
I have never really considered my linguistic or musical abilities to be particularly well developed, though I take it as a compliment that you appear to be rating those abilities to be more significant than my actual specialities.
> " Oh you were taking my words literally ? ..." ;
..... naturally - that is an unavoidable consequence of my formal training in science and technology, where figurative allusions, dramatic irony, hyperbole, etc., rarely have any useful purpose.
> "... I mean, you understand my message, yes ? " ;
