This has been on my mind a ton recently, too. The old "rationalists should win" thing. While there's lots that's bad about that meme, there's also something to it.
Developing skills that widen the scope of fun and creation and joy we can experience seems like one good grounding
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yes haha a lot of this is an elaboration on "rationalists should win"
like agh if we think we're so right about everything let's use it to make our lives amazing already
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Totally!! The big question mark is how do we moneymake with it?
Seems like a good thing to do is to come to an understanding, at least tentative, of what we believe is Definitely Valuable. Then see if we can monetize providing that
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Ironically I kinda see coaching in this light, though only if people end up better off in a real way. Then defining that still feels a little tricky, like maybe I'd have to understand the nature of the Good fully to know what "in a real way" means
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There is something here that feels fraught and really worth examining.
For ex: seems strange NOT to acknowledge that greater life satisfaction, ease, relaxation are intrinsic goods, yet if they come at the expense of generativity and engagement-with-the-world seems wirehead-y
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So what do, since because of this there *does* seem to be a risk of wireheadiness with offering coaching or circling?
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there's a bit where says explicitly "All things being equal, human beings are ridiculously ANTI-wireheading" and i've been chewing on this
wireheading is not actually the failure mode i'm worried about with coaching etc, it's something a bit different
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i think helping people feel happier etc. is actually highly compatible with increasing their engagement with the world, certainly i myself have been most engaged with the world when i felt the happiest
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Yeah, agreed! The wireheading worry could be put to bed once and for all I suppose if we became confident that it's inevitable that as people become happier they become more "engaged"
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Adding that I'm pretty sure there's lots here I'm confused about and I don't know how to talk about it cleanly yet.
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yeah def all this stuff is v much on my edge of being able to think / feel / talk about
there are case studies to look at. somebody suggested on here that we look into the history of the human potential movement from the '60s which seems relevant
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