X-Message-Number: 10160
Date: Sat, 1 Aug 1998 12:35:25 -0400 (EDT)
From: Charles Platt <>
Subject: Happiness

On Sat, 1 Aug 1998, Brook Norton wrote:

> At the most basic level, I believe the brain is hardwired to always choose
> to increase happiness.  At the most basic level, you can't act to try to
> become unhappy.  Its impossible. 

Many neurotic people would disagree. Neurosis could be loosely defined as
compulsive behavior that results in unhappiness. Suppose, for instance, a
man suffered a miserable relationship with a domineering mother, when he
was a child. In later life he finds himself choosing female lovers who
recapitulate the miserable relationship of his childhood. He may be
hardwired with a survival instinct (which is what I think you are getting
at when you talk about happiness), but he has been PROGRAMMED to behave
self-destructively. The crucial point here is that he believes (as you 
do) that he is behaving with free will. He actively seeks out the people 
who will make him miserable--and doesn't know how to break this pattern.

You also ignore the well documented fact that some people enjoy pain. You 
may claim that this is a form of pleasure; but in that case, for these 
people, you would have to say that pain does not exist. In fact the 
problem is far more complex, and I fear that by projecting your own set 
of life-rules on the rest of the population, you are making an error 
which is seen often in the cryonics community: assuming that everyone 
else is as smart and rational as you are.

This is not necessarily true.

> and the more I learned, the more cryonics looked like it would work.

That's funny. The more I learned about cryonics, the more I came to the 
conclusion that cryonics in its current state probably would NOT work. 
That's why I felt a need to do something about it.

Evidently you responded to sources different from mine. I'm curious to 
know what gave you your feeling of confidence.

--Charles Platt

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