Happiness vs Truth

[Flaming_Tiki_God]

I made this topic a while ago on the old GR boards only to get 4-8 replies. It was brought up in my Lit class while reading Brave New World, so now I'm asking again. Which would you prefer: Happiness or Intelligence?

I'd go for happiness because, really, it's what we live for. Imagine a life and society full of complete, inextinguishable joyous, but completely stupid, oblivious, and ignorant people. It's easy to visualize, and to me seems utopia-ish.

Now imagine a society full of all (and I mean ALL) knowing people who cannot experience happiness. I can't picture it nor can I see how such a society would work. Instead I think people would kill themselves because there is no purpose to their lives anymore. They know everything. They can do nothing more.

Either way, soma is the answer!

 

[trust_no_one]

Ignorance may be bliss, but naivety is destruction.

Why can't intelligence be happiness?

 

[Mod-Chip]

Well you I believe the debate is more free will vs. determination, seeing how the lives of each Brave New Worlder occupant have been determined by processing, conditioning and what not.


And it is rather foolish to believe that happiness does not revolve around truth and vice versa.



-BBK

 

[Ted_Wolff]

The truth of the capability for a specimen to construct nuclear devices and use it to decimate populations of people in the name of political aggrandizement makes me happy.

 

[TheNesMan]

"I'd rather be happy than right anyday"

 

[Nefro]

I'd rather be happy. Maybe intelligence may provide happiness, but I'm looking at the poll as you can have one, but with that, you can't have the other.

I'd rather be a happy idiot than a depressed genius.

 

[slickbenjamn]

I would prefer intelligence. Personally I'm happier when I'm learning, so I acheive happiness through intelligence, if that makes sense.

 

[TheNesMan]

I would prefer intelligence. Personally I'm happier when I'm learning, so I acheive happiness through intelligence, if that makes sense.

That's not really relevant to what the poll is asking, as nefro stated =p.

 

[Flaming_Tiki_God]

I would prefer intelligence. Personally I'm happier when I'm learning, so I acheive happiness through intelligence, if that makes sense.

Think about it the other way. Happiness provides your intelligence. It's your motivation to learn. Without happiness or emotion in general, you would be nowhere.

 

[maca2kx]

I would prefer intelligence. Personally I'm happier when I'm learning, so I acheive happiness through intelligence, if that makes sense.

Think about it the other way. Happiness provides your intelligence. It's your motivation to learn. Without happiness or emotion in general, you would be nowhere.

But with him happiness and intelligence are intertwined, with your poll you're assuming they are mutually exclusive and one can exist without the other which is not the case with many people. There is a strange logic to your idea that intelligent people aren't happy whilst ignorant people are and that's probably partly because through intelligence comes the means to analyse yourself and the world around you and the outlook can often be bleak. Understanding how and why the world works as it does can bring a certain satisfaction in reaching that point but in understanding human behaviour, why people behave the way they do, it may not always be a pleasant discovery. Ignorance on the other hand enables the person to ignore the negativities of the planet and even if they are also ignorant to the pleasantries how would that depress them? They're not aware of them after all. However, if someone is totally ignorant then where is this happiness coming from?

Sam

 

[The_Cookster]

You're one lucky cookie to be reading a literacy masterpiece! Truth btw.

 

[Longo_2_guns]

I'd rather be intelligent. Then i could create robots to amuse me or take over the world. if i was all knowing i could woo all the chicks i wanted. then i would be happy through intelligence. So intelligence

 

[Paradox]

i have to go with TNO and the others when i say intelligence generates happiness, for me anyway. i love learning about new discoveries on how black holes work, or new insight in the origin on the universe, or some new species discovered on the ocean floor.

id rather die an intelligent man than live a life based on ignorance and faith.

 

[Flaming_Tiki_God]

Yeah, it's a very great book.

Maca, The ignorant are happy because they know nothing else. Think about it little children (2- maybe 5 years old) are the purest people in existance. They know very little, and unless they are restricted or physically harmed, they seem to be ALWAYS happy. Who knows where it comes from. For children it always seems to be there. Perhaps happiness is our default emotion.
And I personally don't find happiness in knowledge. My happiness is in what we don't know, the magic of our world, life, time, space, the exact nature of and what happens between people. It all seems so magical to me. I don't necessarily want to know the truth of it all. My happiness comes from the knowledge that it's there, that life is so complex. That's just me, but the way I think emphasizes my belief that happiness is better than knowledge.

Ultimately I'm asking you to look at the extremes. The sole emotion of joy against just knowledge
(Even then, if you throw in the rest of human emotions with intelligence, I'd still prefer happiness)

 

[maca2kx]

/\ I personally see that as a limited form of happiness, if you know nothing then there's nothing to be scared of, worried about, upset about, and while on the face it that may seem to be great how about the alternative where happiness can be found along with satisfaction of understanding something else? For me, and apparently a lot of other people in this topic, the prospect of gaining the satisfaction of discovering or understanding another aspect of the world/universe causes plain happiness to pale in comparison.

Sam

 

[GiftedMonkey]

I said truth because you'll get over the shock/disappointment eventually.

 

[Krowsnose]

happiness has no true value to it, its only a feeling, knowledge can lead to greater discoveries...

 

[Simsy]

It's a matter of personal choice, there's nothing else to it. I personally voted truth, though I don't think one can ever truly exclude the other.

 

[yorky]

I believe the truly important truths in life carry a certain amount of happiness with them. It's just the little truths inbetween that usually trouble me.

 

[Don_Gero]

Truth, otherwise it's not true happiness.