<p>sustained pleasure?</p>
<p>this is why happiness drugs are not the solution to the utilitarian ideal, for happiness drugs may diminish incentives for people to do anything, and consequently people die happy, but die happy of lack of motivation to do anything.</p>
<p>this is also why virtual reality environment may not be the solution to the utilitarian ideal.</p>
<p>==</p>
<p>while everything can be viewed as relative to something else in the most absolute sense, it is true that within the cognitive confines of the human condition, trapped with its biological limitations on the limitations of the planet, that there are some values and tasks that will be of greater sustainable psychological benefits (psychological as all inputs are viewed in a psychological sense) than other values and tasks within the limited lifespan of the human individual.</p>
<p>and it is for this one thing known as “meaning”. as “meaning” acts as an effective catalyst towards the most “sustainable” integral of pleasure. the effects of the catalyst are contained more in probability than just in time, for in non-closed environments, a non-catalyzed reactant will respond to other outside pressures, whereas a catalyzed product may not be responsive to such pressures. this is precisely why time is of the essence. the non-catalyzed reactant can be the impressionable 12-year old, the catalyzed product the adult 18 year old who goes through the catalyst of social influence.</p>
<p>for i realize that the integral of pleasure is limited when you’re whittling your life away on a ■■■■■■■■ mmorpg - for you experience intense but non-sustainable pleasure. perhaps it is a condition of the human mind that the MOST intense pleasure comes out of non-redundant stimuli.</p>
<p>(and no, i dont play mmorpgs; i just use them in my thought experiments :p)</p>
<p>By perceived meaning, I mean.</p>
<p>by catalyst, I mean that it speeds up the person’s actions in a particular direction (one direction, as opposed to another, even if the person is responsive to different directions at first => although such responsiveness may not be recognized, as the person is only exposed to a set of potential directions in his limited environment). some catalysts speed up a person’s actions towards one basin of attraction, some catalysts speed up a person’s actions towards another basin of attraction. of course, we know that adults are relatively consistent in their beliefs over time (and that compared to teens, comparatively few adults really change at all).</p>
<p>Meaning, perhaps, is a sort of a catalyst. Why? It seems that people derive meaning from sustainable pleasures, rather than momentary pleasures (such as “getting high” or "playing computer games). There are many different ways for the individual to find meaning, but it seems that “meaning” is restricted to activities that actually are sustainable in that way.</p>
<p>Gah…too…tired…to…read…this…=_=</p>
<p>okay, so basic point:</p>
<p>sustained pleasure is the best form of pleasure.</p>
<p>and meaning is what motivates us to achieve sustainable pleasure. </p>
<p>the best way to achieve temporary pleasure is through drugs or video games.</p>
<p>but that is not a sustainable form of pleasure. it’s also funny that we don’t get meaning from it either.</p>
<p>another way to get temporary pleasure is through a teenage relationship (more permanent than drugs or computer games, but usually still less than a couple of years). but there is some meaning through it. perhaps it’s the memories of the relationship. perhaps it’s that one remembers things of value in it. </p>
<p>but sustainable pleasure isn’t necessarily the best form of pleasure if you know you’re only going to live for another year, in which brief momentary pleasures may be better.</p>
<p>brief momentary pleasures have a huge peak, but the area under the pleasure curve is very low, compared with the area under the pleasure curve for sustainable pleasure that you derive meaning from (especially when it provides you with content to think about - this makes you find more pleasure out of it than the time you put into it)</p>
<p>==
also, one’s direction in life does determine what one finds pleasurable in the long-term (such a direction helps determine one’s values, and one’s values help determine whether one will find something pleasurable over an extended period of time or not). certain environmental pressures act as catalysts towards steering one’s values in one direction, rather than in the direction of another. those environmental pressures are dependent on the environment at hand. for example, in south korea, gaming can be seen as a sustainable pleasure (as people can make money out of it), and the values in gaming are thus sustainable values. here in america though, gaming isn’t seen as a sustainable pleasure, and people look down upon gamers. indeed, those who do not achieve sustainable pleasure are looked down upon as “losers”.</p>
<p>^ That’s not basic.</p>