Thursday, June 17, 2010

Question from Jon Haidt

Would you be happier if you had more meaningful conversations and spent less time shooting the bull? My guess is no but there is some evidence to the contrary.

With that in mind I submit this question, from Jon Haidt for discussion:

Suppose you faced this choice: if you choose option A, then tomorrow your life would become wonderful, full of happiness until you are 80, at which point you have 1 year of misery, feeling that your life was a mistake and a failure, and then you die unhappy. If you choose option B, you become miserable tomorrow, and until you are 80 you feel like a wretched failure. Then, at 80, you achieve a kind of epiphany, find meaning, and feel that your whole life was deeply worthwhile. Then you die. Whichever option you choose, your memory of choosing is wiped out, and you just live out the life that you chose without knowing why it is happening. Which option would you choose? Why?

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