cross-posted from: https://lemmy.org/post/3793773
The way everything makes you happy is the same. The hormones through which they make you happy is the same and there is no limit to this. For example, you might think that a certain type of food makes you happy in a different way than another type of food but this is an illusion, they are all the same actually. They all make you secrete more dopamine and nothing more or different. Every kind of drug makes you happy in the same way. Furthermore, the more things you experience that makes you happy, the harder it will become for you to be happy because your standards will increase each time. So please keep this in mind, you dont have to try everything in life even if it is for only once. Every happiness that you experience is the same. Dont fall into the illusion that they are different just because the source of happiness is different, it is always the same happiness. There is only one type of happiness. There was an experiment where they gave rats dopamine and then those rats died from hunger. The happiness you experience from eating is the same as the happiness from cocaine. They are all the same. Do not fall for consumerism.
The reason you “should experience everything at least once” is not for happiness reasons, it’s so that you have a diverse set of experiences to draw from that makes you more prepared for every other new experience. The more you have already experienced, the more you can talk with people about things, the more you understand about the world, the more open you are, in short, it just makes you a more well-rounded, “better” person.
Seeing new things as “just a way for Dopamine to be generated” is too single-dimensional.
That does not mean you have to “fall to consumerism”. Going on a friend’s small boat to learn to sail is different than taking a cruise. Building a model plane out of spare parts is different than buying the newest drone. You can keep experiencing new things all the time without being a “dumb consumer”.
Well said. And I believe those diverse experiences will be what makes you less likely to endulge in blind consumerism… I mean if you just eat the standard stuff, buy the standard things, live the standard life… That’s likely gonna be what society will push down on you. And we live in a consumerist society… So the one way out of it is to explore things beyond… Find out what you want, and not what people want to sell to you… And many of the really good experiences come for free, anyway. Having friends, enjoying a day… That’s not necessarily about money. And you’re also allowed to once and again not have french fries like any other day.
Is it wrong though? Seeing new things makes you less happier because it will be hardder for you to be happy. Imagine your childhood, you became happy for smaller things right? Wouldnt you want that to continue throughout your life or at least to some degree. Look at this child, https://www.reddit.com/r/ContagiousLaughter/comments/1hpt2nz/istambul_ice_cream/ he is so happy. Now, would you be happy like that child ever again this simply? No, because you have seen more than him. We do everything to be happy in the end.
Children experience more extreme emotions in general, not just happiness. Think of the tantrums they throw.
And honestly, no, my main goal isn’t to blindly chase dopamine.
For one, happiness is more complex than that, you cannot just reduce it to one hormone (e.g. what about serotonin or oxytocin?)
Secondly, I think experience and personal development are important, they put happiness into perspective and let you appreciate it better. Leaving your comfort zone can be deeply rewarding, even if it doesn’t immediately result in a dopamine boost.
I can confidently say that I am happier now than I was as a child, despite the fact I now laugh less.
You know your point with the child defeats itself, right? The only reason the child was this happy about the ice cream was because it did a new thing (getting ice cream from the funny ice cream man). If it would have followed your theory, it should have never had this ice cream experience, as to keep the potential of being this excited? It just doesn’t make any sense, it basically means you’d never be this happy for ice cream because you’d never do it.
And anyway, I’d thoroughly enjoy this bit experiencing it myself. If I’d have the same amount of joy as the child, I don’t know, but it doesn’t matter either. I really don’t care to compare myself with others, for me it’s enough if I would have my own amount of fun, whatever that is.
If you’d like my personal experience:
My parents offered me money (if not much else), and always encouraged me to do new things. As a result, I did a lot of different things in my life, in fact, it’ll be hard for you to name any one “common” thing I haven’t done.
Now I play video games most of my time, and I have a lot of fun doing that. I enjoy cooking a good meal. I love looking at a sunset. All the different experiences I had led to me being able to enjoy the repetitive, same things. I don’t mind not doing many different things. I have no regrets.
So while I’m sure what you say can be true for some person, for me, it is definitely not. I’m not any more bored with the same old things than I was before doing everything. I’m very happy just doing few things, I don’t need a new thing every day to be happy. At the same time, if an opportunity presents itself, that I morally agree with, I don’t fear to take it, I don’t say “oh if I do this new thing the old things will be boring”, I just take the opportunity and later go back to the old thing, as happy as before.
I was actually talking about things that bring happiness fastly like drugs but i think i should have explicitly stated that.
There are so many different types of drugs though.
Psychedelics are typically classified as drugs, for instance. Mushrooms show long term benefits after a single use, MDMA is closer to a stimulant dopamine blast, and LSD has been described as just fun. That’s a lot of variance in one category, but I still wouldn’t say people that do acid generally have issues with chasing quick highs compared to people that munch shrooms.
“Blinkered Philistine thinking”
“Drugs” do all sorts of things, not “bring happiness fastly”.
Some may cause euphoria, some may induce a sense of calm, some may cause disassociation, some may may make you more open - and each one is a slightly different experience for each person because of individual biochemistry and personal experience.
As my hillbilly family would say “you’re talkin’ outta yer ass”.
Your hubris is astounding.
I suggest you go and get all those experience, because you need them.