anyways heres my theories on some of humanity’s behaviors and its existence. please point out some logical flaws/loopholes in them. please dont give too much emotional responses, as they arent really good for much when it comes to philosophy.
The word “happiness” is undefined but can be used to define other terms, much like the mathematical terms “point” and “line”. The word “pain” or “unhappiness” refers to a decrease in happiness, or negative happiness.
Every human is motivated by that individual’s own HAPPINESS and nothing else.
Every human, whenever making a choice, is making the one that will benefit that individual the most.
Even when an individual is making the choice of sacrificing self interest , that individual knows that giving brings more happiness than keeping the benefits, and is avoiding the punishment of guilt, which brings pain, which can be understood as negative happiness.
When an individual is benifitting another individual willingly (e.g. family members, friends), it is because only when the benefitting individual is happy, can the benefactor become happy. Therefore, in order for the benefactor to achieve happiness, it must help the individual that it loves achieve happiness first.
Even if an individual decides to do something completely against its conscience just to prove this theory wrong, it is hoping to obtain more happiness through disproving my theories than happiness lost through doing something that is against its conscience.
Therefore, the centre of universe to any individual is that individual itself. There may be things that this specific individual believes to be more important than life and is worth dying for, but that is because this individual believes that it is better to die than to bear the guilt that the individual will have if this individual does not die for this specific cause, or, the result of its death results in a greater amout of joy than its death produces for that specific individual.
Therefore, in any religion, the most important object is not God, or the gods, but the individual that is worshipping. The worshipping individual is doing a deal with the supernatural: I will have faith in you/give offerings, but you must bring me things that will make me happy. In Christianity, for example, although many Christians claim that God is much more important than them, they are only worshipping God because He has promised eternal life for all who has faith in Him. After all, who would worship a God that will send them into hell?
Therefore, from the perspective of a human individual, the single most important thing is its own happiness. Be it God, or friendship, or money, or power, or love, they are all merely ways of obtaining happiness.
Therefore, the only difference between a good individual and a bad individual is the type of things an individual chooses to do in order to obtain happiness. If other individuals benefit from that individual’s actions, then that individual is a good one, but if other individuals suffer as a result of an individual’s effect to achieve happiness, then that individual is a bad one. (e.g. when a murderer kills people, he is looking for happiness, but other people suffer, so he is a bad person. However, when a person voluntarily help others because it makes him happy, other people benefit from his way of looking for happiness, so he is a good person. )
Therefore, the existence of humanity has no goal: everything comes from its individuals’ desire to be happy, and the only difference between humanity and animals is that humanity has more complex and possibly more effective ways of obtaining happiness than the animals. The pursuit of happiness is only an instinct of humanity, and from that perspective, humanity is no different from any animal.
Therefore, there is no reason or real goal in life except to be happy to an individual.
No individual has the ability to choose between existence and nonexistence.
No individual has the ability to choose the body that the individual’s conscience must control.
It is a well-known truth that most of a human individual’s life is spent in pain or unhappiness.
On a happiness scale, where 5 is where an individual can feel nothing but happiness, 0 is where happiness and unhappiness occurs in similar amounts, and -5 is where the individual is pain, an individual’s average happiness through its life is below 0. Assume it is -2.5.
An individual’s happiness before that individual existed is at 0, because it is neither happy nor unhappy.
When something causes that individual to exist, the level of happiness that individual experiences decreases from 0 to -2.5, resulting in a drop of happiness of a magnitude of 2.5.
Therefore, the cause of an individual’s existence owes that individual 2.5 happiness, since that individual lost 2.5 happiness simply by existing.
Every part of the world owes every individual 2.5 happiness as well, since it did not kill the individuals and end their sufferings before they begin to suffer.
Parents owe their children 2.5 happiness as well, since it was them who brought the child onto this world to suffer pain.
and thats my theory. can someone point out maybe some loopholes or logical flaws in them? thx.
Edit: if you’ve seen some of my theories before somewhere, could you tell me where? i would like to study more on this subject.
I guess I disagree with number one: Every human is motivated by that individual’s own HAPPINESS and nothing else.
Human beings have a plurality of motivations and we are, to say the very least, obligate social organisms. To reduce humans down to a single metric seems . . . overly simplistic. Additionally, where do the sacrifices necessary for society figure into your equation? What about altruism? What about emo/goths that simply get off on their own unhappiness for reasons I fail to fathom?
sacrifices for society is also for self interest: if the society is happy, then i am happy. its the satisfied feeling that u get when u do something good that keeps motivating ppl to keep sacrificing for society, because hey, knowing that i did something nice is very good, and makes me feel like a nice person!
altruism is the same: seeing everyone around me happy makes me happy, (which is the case with most of us), therefore ill make everyone around me happy, so i can be happy.
the emos/goths receive a certain feeling of satisfaction from their self-torturing thoughts: look at me. the society doesnt understands me. nobody loves me. im a poor, sad creature. this way, in their own minds, they shape themselves to be characters in what they see as tragedies, great ppl whom nobody love and understand. this is quite similar to bondage: ppl who get whipped and beat up and be bossed around receive some sort of sexual and/or mental pleasure from all those things most ppl consider to be horrible, just like the goths.
Not entirely true. When you see a baby drowing, you move to save it without a second thought. You don’t think to yourself, “Will saving this baby bring me more or less happiness” it is merely done. Similarly, when a parent sacrifices their lives for their children (be it literal or metaphysical from the bondage of making a living to support said children) this is not down out of a selfish desire.
You say we help society because ultimately that brings us more happiness. I couldn’t agree more, but then why doesn’t everybody give their all to society? Are the selfish capitalists merely blind, or are both paths valid? It seems quite circular.
Why create an original statement that immediately has to be broken down and sub-divided time and time again? If you have to create convoluted explanations, it is usually incorrect. The truth is elegant.
You say that you do not possess happiness, why is that? At least you are honest about the motivations for your philosophy, which is admirable. If you want other selfish-motivated philosophers, check out Hobbes and Yang Zhu. If you want someone who places happiness at the fore, check out Mills or our very own FutureMan.
what if when you first heard tell of a baby drowning you thougt; why wasn’t there someone there to save the baby? in asking that you would assume any sane person would know what the best thing to do in that situation is. namely, save try to save the baby’s life. i think our beliefs come in 2 varieties, theoretical and experential. before and after action. when we come across an oppurtunity to act on any of these beliefs we decide on a course of action and act it out to the best of our ability.
if i always thought i’d run into a burning building to save someone, that doesn’t mean i will do it any time i come across the oppurtunity or at all for that matter. there are innumerable variying factors that may weigh into any decision. why does a masochist enjoy pain? why do murderers continue to kill after their 1st time? its all a matter of personal preferance. i say peoples beliefs are constantly evolving with every new experiance. --one day i might want to go skydiving, get up in the plain and change my mind, or i might jump out and change my mind after its already too late. either way my beliefs are going to change but one decision resulted in me actually trying it. any experiance is just a way of getting something done and re-affirming or changing our beliefs about that particular experiance. when i save the child that results in a better felling for me and the child than not saving the child. it just takes a stronger person to actually hold to their beliefs in times of adversity.
If happiness is the root of all our actions, then I would ask… How much, if at all, does an individual have control over what makes them happy (in the sense being used in the original post). That is to say, can I change that which makes me happy? Can I influence it?
BTW- I’ve been reading here for a short while. Figured I’d ask some questions myself.
when u see a baby drowning, if u dont go save it, u’ll have to live with guilt, which is negative happiness, which u obviously dont want. but if ur a madman who enjoys watching babies drown which brings u happiness, would u go save the baby? obviously not.
same thing for the parent thing.
the selfish capitalists believe that society can bring happiness, but they believe that if they work by themselves, they’ll become even happier. communists, who believe a human should give his/her all to the society, is merely suggesting another way to find happiness.
one should only be fueled by happiness in life, not driven.
The ultimate experience is not an emotion (happiness) rather something that transcends all into eternity. All your claims of happiness seem to be based on subjective human psychology, maybe you should consider the works of the Buddha(enlightenment), or some Plato(the Forms)
exactly…we, and ALL our actions, are driven by the desire to obtain happiness. think about the economic and political revolutions all throughout human history. which one was NOT motivated by the desire, the INSTINCT to obtain happiness? even if you dont think, are you not subconsciously and automatically considering which one will bring you more happiness when you are faced with a choice?
e.g.
when you are choosing to donate to the poor, are you not doing it for the feeling of “ahhh i did something good today”?? you might say “well its because i care about the poor people and feel sorry for them”, but is it not true that if you feel sorry for them (which is completely involuntary), you will have to deal with the feeling of guilt, which brings you discomfort and pain, which is negative HAPPINESS?
you, and me, and everyone else, are driven by the desire, the INSTINCT to be happy. after all, why do you want something that transcends into all eternity? because that makes you happy. you may argue that it does not, but if it does not, why the heck would you do it in the first place??? how do you benefit from it??? and remember…no matter in which ways can you benefit from the “something thats transcends all eternity”, it always ends up bringing you happiness, otherwise you’re not benefitting. another example is the reason as to why are you posting. you are posting because correcting what you perceive to be a mistake in my theory brings happiness to you. again, look at the entire human history. which event occured to bring people pain? none. i think that is enough to prove my point.
not only are people driven by the desire to be happy, they are INCAPABLE of doing anything that they know will make them UNHAPPY. if you decide to do something totally against your personal beliefs and will make you unhappy just to try to prove that my theory is wrong, well, you’re not really succeeding because by making the choice to do something thats completely against your personal beliefs, you show your belief that the action of proving that i’m wrong brings you more happiness than the action itself causes you. even when you are forced to do something by a madman with a knife, you are making the choice of choose the one that you believe will bring you less pain: do whatever you’re asked instead of getting killed, because you believe that whatever he asking you to do, is much less negative happiness than getting stabbed to death.
for the past 4 years i’ve been a chronic smoker of pot. i enjoyed smoking it. now pot puts me to sleep every time i smoke it. i smoke it but i enjoy it a lot less than i did before. when i quit smoking pot this is a concious decision based on physical/mental experiance of headachs, drowsyness, dry mouth, and the burn out lasts longer than the high. what motivated the change in my behaviour?what made me decide to quit smoking pot?i say it was the effects pot had on me, paired with the belief that it would benefit me in the long term as well as the short term to quit. i take a belief as the end result of any reasoning. can i sense or form beliefs about anything outside my scope of sense perception, or personal experiance? i know i can’t sense anything outside of my senses range but i still believe france exists. everything outside of my perceptual range progresses over time with or without my participation, i am aware that there multiples of things which i as a human must do and multiples of things which i can choose to do. i must eat, drink,breath,shit,sleep to stay alive, i know this from physical experiance. beyond human physiological necessity we have a monatary necessity, money buys everything. so we must have money to live. besides the 5 core and 1 overbaring necessity, what else is necessary to can one human? awareness. with our awareness comes our perception. our perception is moulded by our beliefs in a subtle way, true beliefs are beliefs with which we attribute absolute certainty to. some scientific laws, some math. if i’m driving on the road i know, from some elementary laws of physics, before ever being in a car accident that it has the potential to damage property and hurt or kill people, i know this would be a bad thing to happen, because of the pain and damage it could do, so it re-affirms my belief about the situation. everytime i drive i don’t have to think about why its bad to hit another car , i just have to remember it is bad. good and bad are meerly opposite directions of the pleasure/benefit or harm/loss scale, a quality we apply to any belief. with the expansive range of facts(absolute truth)and falsity(misconception) that can factor into formulating a belief about any particular experiance, how can anyone claim to know the absolute truth about something? i’d say look back to what i said we’re the only necessities of being human. namely, a mortal body and awareness. these are charectoristics found in every living human. this is proven by biology and psychology. or a pinch on the arm and a dream during sleep. how do i assure that my so called awareness isn’t also a dream? i wake up , my location is the same as when i wen’t to sleep(bar the dreaded sleepwalker)(or the "where am i , what was the name of that bar?)the day following my percieved night is different and new from my last, yet prior obligations remain. making this progress seem irreversible and also equal for everyone on the planet. the laws of science which can be considered absolute are absolute to every being on earth. mortality and awareness is common to all.as are scientific laws. from all this i take that humans learn from experiance,and form beliefs about life. some concrete some not. my conception reality is a collection of absolute beliefs, theres no uncertainty in my conception of reality until one of my beliefs is proven flawed. imagination is key in trying to form my conception of reality. as i can’t experiance everything first hand, being limited by my human potential, second hand (solely theoretical) experiance can aid in belief forming,though not as directly as the prior. my body , through its awareness and sense organs, let me percieve the world from a limited perspective. as i explore the vastness of my world its
inhabitants effect me in specific ways, each according to its own nature. its essentially my nature to explore and as necessity become aware of my surroundings. only after 1st hand experiance to i understand what good and bad are. qualities applied to an effect by the affected. these qualities being pleasure/pain, utility/waste, benefit/loss. these 3 pairs or conceptions are wrapped up in good and bad. the effect is the object bringing about the change and the affected is me. the affected responds physically and gains experiance and decides wether what its experiancing is pleasurable/ painful, useful/wasteful, benefitial/malignant. when does indifference arise? the middle. either before the facts are reasoned, or before the experiance is finished.
in that sense what can human will be free from? certainly not experiance, the universal laws of science,or consequences; especially if you want to act on any will.
the human will cannot be free. and why do you want it to be free? because you expect it to make you HAPPY! ALL our actions are governed by the desire or instinct to be happy.
hello , do you prefer Singulairity (self-destruction,word worship)
or thinking cubic (returning and defending nature , making deeds and good jugments to others)?
alright then , but i suggest you read (emotion tetrahedron) on cubicAO though.
the only loophole here , is humanity is on a road to self-destruction and we must think cubic in order too solve it.
I don’t recall asking for your judgment
(please insert name here).
happiness comes from living in nature , unhappiness comes from living in the city.
Count this human out , nothing can motivate me other than myself ,i need to be my own inspiration.
isn’t that called fate ?
is this a psychology test , or philosophy?
Just don’t use a religous/academic approach on the benefactor.
so now i can proove you wrong with my unconscious thoughts?
good singulairty worshipping going on there.
Deutronomy contradicts the entire setting of the bible , god is more beast-like than “human”.
fun equates to happiness , fun in the forest equates to romance/friendship/etc. the other rhtings you have stated have negative values attached too themselves (loophole).
choice and movement - that’s what second thoughts (duality) are for.
Humanity is a word animal , they worship a word god , in there word world. words are like money they are value but they lack any deed or
self-improvement. your face is a corner your head is a cube , a continent is a face on the cubic earth with the image of a sphere placed in your singulairity mentality.
just be sure to leave God or a lying teacher out of that happiness for the other individual.
But every individual has the right to know what is eixstence and nonexistence , and debate it.
Meaning?
though it is not 'the truth" it is a useful fact shimo.
-2.5. , im somewhere around that 0 point then.
that prooves me dead.
alright then.
that sounds about right , although i have a problem with you saying a mother SHOULD listen to a stranger about how too raise her child , that’s her choice and sacrifice not the stranger’s.
suffering is a part of evolution , add that to your theory and it would make furtur sense.
daily?
monthly?
yearly?
certain hours?
certain minutes?
seconds?
by “happiness” what are you reffering too?
more suffering?
unequal happiness between the child and it’s parents?
the person above me pointed out some very interestings things. i would like to say:
i typed the whole thing to prove that humans do EVERYTHING in their power to be happy, and cannot stop trying to be happy. it doesnt really matter HOW you want to be happy, but you’re ALWAYS trying to be happy. therefore, thinking singularity or cubic, living in city or nature, they’re all METHODS which humans use to gain happiness, and as long as you can get happiness, the moethod DOESNT MATTER to the person who is receiving happiness if you count external effects (e.g. arrest, getting beat up) out.
it doesnt quite matter whether humanity is on a road to self-destruction or not. why do you want to save it through cubic thinking to save it? because saving it makes you happy, which further proves my point.
i meant that emotional responses dont matter to ME, not anyone else.
whenever i typed the word “individual”, i meant the human who is trying to be happy.
the only reason why i picked Christianity is because i am more familiar with it than any other religion.
fun is not happiness. doing what you believe is “fun” gives you happiness. happiness is the state of mind, “fun” is a word used to describe things that give a human happiness.
by "No individual has the ability to choose the body that the individual’s conscience must control. " i meant that nobody chose to exist as a human instead of an angel or a borg or a worm or God for that matter. none of us chose to be born with this body instead of having a body that can help us obtain happiness easier.
by "An individual’s happiness before that individual existed is at 0, because it is neither happy nor unhappy. " i meant BEFORE THAT INDIVIDUAL EXISTED. you’re basically non-existent, you’re basically dead except you didnt exist, as opposed to you existed but died. however, you can also achieve 0 happiness by having a life that is half happy at a certain magnitude and half not happy at the same magnitude. this balances out to be 0.
i believe that the cause of an individual’s existence owes that individual because the cause (in most cases, parents) brought us into existence willingly even though they know our lives will be full of pain.
evolution is on a species scale. an INDIVIDUAL gains ABSOLUTELY NOTHING through evolution! it doesnt matter whether 10000 years from now my offspring will have 5 arms…it doesnt make a single difference to me unless i feel HAPPY that my offspring have an easier life. and yes, the plural for offspring is still offspring.
parents owe their children 2.5 happiness ON AVERAGE. it does not increase or decrease. happiness is UNDEFINED. parents are not happier than than their children. think of it this way: parents owe their children, but the grand parents owe the parents. the same with great grandparents and great great grandparents and so on. everyone who has kids owe their kids 2.5 happiness or whatever the kid’s average happiness happens to be.
i still fail to see any loopholes in my theories…please be more specific. thank you.
The name is matt , but you can call me DDF like evryone else does.
I don’t do everything in my power to be happy , satisfaction and pride is a more commen goal amongst humanity.i can stop trying to be “happy” it’s my choice.the METHOD of thinking Cubic makes Canadians more Superior than any inferior Liar-worshipping American.internal effects matter most they are a part of the emotion spectrum.
not just me , you should talk too Rose and CubeHead on the following website , Francois might enjoy a good couple posts from you as well: graveyardofthegods.com/forum/vie … f84405a61b
you will have your answers there , this setting is not fit for my Cube Comprehended mind.
matters to me , so that makes me “nobody” right?
you can’t “try” to be happy it’s not an instinct , unless your one of those Domesticated Word Animals of Habit or a worshipper of God , who is but a word that brings humanity down a dark path with the illusion of man-made light.
You AND about most of the entire “United States” population , who should be aware of there nonsense belief they arent even aware that there reality is being destroyed by adults who plunder resources only to leave earth barren for their grandchildren.but that’s the revelations of nihilism not my fault.
fun is happiness if i give the word a definition , if not it is not really “fun” anymore thus no happiness.
that’s true and they believe that as in:
yes but stupid educted Christians claim their God gave them there Bodies , when it was their parents who infuenced them with that false belief and so called “happiness” , loophole.
we are born between opposites of male and female parents (+/-) thus we have 0 valued existence thus non-existent , no loophole but we did just agree on the same matter if only you wern’t believing in a word-god you would be Independently thinking cubic thus descending your false beliefs.
that’s right leave God out of it , your parents internal cretures (sperm and egg) collided with their inner mentality thus you where born , no god involved.
that enhances your ability to think rational and cubic.
baby,child,parent,grandparent=4
mother,father,son,daughter=4
great grandparents=16
here is another article CubeHead would like you too read: cubicao.tk/theory/4supreme.html
the loophole is the one who searches for it for they know not their creation principle , nature’s harmonic TimeCube.
matt, i can see you’re really trying to help with this theory of mine, and i thank you that. however…
it sounds like rather than discussing what i’m saying, you are trying to convince me of your theory. if you want to do that, please be more specific about your theory.
you CANNOT stop trying to be happy. when you stop trying, you are stopping for a reason, and you believe that what you are accomplishing through stopping trying to be happy can bring you more happiness than actually trying to be happy.
i live in canada.
my theory focuses on the individual, not humanity as a species. thus evolution and other species-wide things that occur over millions of years cannot have any effect on an individual during its lifetime.
domesticated word animals of habit or not, humans are trying to be happy. why do you NOT want to become a domesticated word animals of habit? because you believe that NOT being one is making you happy.
from the perspective of an individual, it does not matter whether you destroy the environment for your children or not unless it gives the feeling of guilt. after all, when your children start feeling the negative results of your actions, you’re most likely dead. once you’re dead, what does it matter whether your children suffer or not? you wont even know they’re suffering…
happiness does NOT come from fun things. “inner peace” actually exists, and you can be happy without doing anything and just enjoying the things around you.
does whether you are a “domesticated word animals of habit” or a “worshipper of God” or not? as long as it makes you HAPPY, it does NOT matter what you do. after all, no matter what the source, HAPPINESS is the same. the happiness a murderer gets from killing is exactly the same as the happiness a volunteer at old folk’s home gets through helping old people…
what exactly is “thinking cubic”? you used the words many times, but i’m still not too sure about what it means. explain please?
your “cube” theories is really confusing. please explain more.
is a buddhist equally as happy as a serial killer? what if the serial killer goes to jail? happiness is relative only to the situation that makes you happy. if you think happiness is the same to everybody we obviously don’t agree on what happiness is. i think happines is the result of success. if i believe something is good(i prefer it over other possibilities)if i’m insightful, knowledgeable i can avoid situations which i consider bad(i prefer other possibilities over it) whats happy for me is only happy for you if we have beliefs in common. happiness is the result of an effective plan of action. some people need to accomplish more difficult, more pleasurable, things to consider themselves successfull. what we do consider to make us happy stems from our beliefs. some goals are short term some goals are long term. some people change their goals, some people stick to their goals. all goals stem from beliefs. all beliefs are formed in the mind as a result of experiance.
good and bad are not really philosophical notions. they are qualities we apply to occurances or values. the only thing we have in common is mortality and awareness. the breadth of our awareness is limited by the human condition or human potentiality. how effectively we fill our potential
is dependent on our beliefs and our capacity for action, be it physical or mental. i think protagoras said that “man is the measure of the world”
i take that as just meaning no one can believe something for you. human beliefs are the motive behind all human action. we have to feild test our theorys to affirm or deny.
