Key to happiness

[Sparktrader]

https://www.npr.org/2017/10/25/559963919/albert-einsteins-quote-about-living-a-modest-life-sells-for-1-3-million

 

He is right

[BangkokReady]

Quote

 

While staying at Tokyo's Imperial Hotel, a courier came to the door to make a delivery. The courier either refused a tip or Einstein had no small change, but Einstein wanted to give the messenger something nonetheless.

So on a piece of hotel stationery, Einstein wrote in German his theory of happiness

 

Well that courier's got a pretty good tip now...

[Hummin]

Thats what you know after the experience of success! You need the experience to know the value

[GammaGlobulin]

Speaking of the TRUE key to happiness, then this must be the Skinner Box, or the "Conditioning Chamber",  in which a lab rat will press a key in order to get direct electrical stimulation to the reward centers of the brain. Electrical excitation of the brain causes immediate stimulation of the these reward/pleasure regions of the brain, and thus, you can consider this key in the "Conditioning Chamber" to be your ultimate key to happiness, IF you might be willing to have just two electrodes implanted in your brain.

 

Think about it.

 

Just two wires, connected from a battery directly to the pleasure centers of your brain, and then, you, too, could immediately receive happiness and pleasure beyond anything you have ever before experienced.

 

This is not science fiction, my friends.

 

You can experience this, too, if you find the right doctor, in the right country, where money talks.

 

If you want happiness, instead of pure pleasure, there is no key.

And, the understanding of this is key.

 

Either accept that life is pain, mostly.

Or, undergo minor surgery to receive jolts of pleasure at your touch of a key.

 

Which choice is less appealing is a question not easily answered.

[KIngsofisaan]

If you are with the right person, everything is happy.

[zzaa09]

Tokyo's Imperial Hotel.

Modest lifestyle.

 

 

Indeed.

[jerrymahoney]

[ezzra]

Here's a good one attributed to Mark Twain “Politicians and diapers must be changed often, and for the same reason,” yeas i know nothing to do with happiness..

[1FinickyOne]

1 hour ago, GammaGlobulin said:

You can experience this, too, if you find the right doctor, in the right country, where money talks.

I heard the one about the 90 yr old man and the talking frog... not the one about the talking money. 

[OneMoreFarang]

Some time ago I read Albert Einstein's biography written by Walter Isaacson. It's a great book.

One of the fascinating facts is that Einstein lived the first 30 years or so of his life without electricity in his house. As far as I remember he had the first time electricity at home when he moved to Prague in 1911.

And he made most of his groundbreaking discoveries before that time. 

Fascinating! 

[OneMoreFarang]

1 hour ago, KIngsofisaan said:

If you are with the right person, everything is happy.

Not really. If you are a miserable fart then you will find lots of faults even in the right person.

Just look in this forum... 

[GammaGlobulin]

11 minutes ago, 1FinickyOne said:

I heard the one about the 90 yr old man and the talking frog... not the one about the talking money. 

Well, have you ever heard about Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog? 

[OneMoreFarang]

One of my favorites is the story about the Mexican Fisherman. Enjoy!

 

There are many versions on the internet. This is one of them.

https://aliabdaal.com/the-parable-of-the-mexican-fisherman/

 

[Fat is a type of crazy]

I am working but have 5 minutes to get you back on track. You can thank me later.

Option 1: Lots of good paying jobs in Australia. You have a statistics background or something. Should be able to get a good job with super, holiday pay and then go on your once or twice a year debauchery tour. But in the bigger picture you are getting somewhere. Or get a lower paying job with not much responsibility but more relaxed and fun. Saving money can give you a sense of achievement and happiness. 

Option 2: Work in Thailand. With your skills it may be possible to do some online thing. Or you might make a good teacher. Could be fun and make you happy.  

Option 3: Take a punt and just travel. However if the answer is finding stray  low IQ EQ education and heart Issan girls on a pub tour then it may be a stupid question. But that's just me. But being in Thailand may make you happy and you might meet some people who can give you work or you might meet some beautiful inspiring Thai girl who can help give your life meaning and direction. 

[OneMoreFarang]

3 minutes ago, Fat is a type of crazy said:

I am working but have 5 minutes to get you back on track. You can thank me later.

Option 1: Lots of good paying jobs in Australia. You have a statistics background or something. Should be able to get a good job with super, holiday pay and then go on your once or twice a year debauchery tour. But in the bigger picture you are getting somewhere. Or get a lower paying job with not much responsibility but more relaxed and fun. Saving money can give you a sense of achievement and happiness. 

Option 2: Work in Thailand. With your skills it may be possible to do some online thing. Or you might make a good teacher. Could be fun and make you happy.  

Option 3: Take a punt and just travel. However if the answer is finding stray  low IQ EQ education and heart Issan girls on a pub tour then it may be a stupid question. But that's just me. But being in Thailand may make you happy and you might meet some people who can give you work or you might meet some beautiful inspiring Thai girl who can help give your life meaning and direction. 

Option 4: Get a reasonable paid job in Thailand and enjoy life. That's what I do since almost 30 years.

[Lacessit]

My achievements stay in my memory, I doubt anyone else knows or cares.

All most people should need is food, shelter, and sex. I'd use a different noun, contentment.

 

" Es irrt der Mensch so lang er strebt" ( Goethe )

 

Man is wrong as long as he strives.

[Iamfalang]

I'm sure Einstein in his day was a rock star.  Everyone knew him.  Gifts, free dinners, etc.....

 

I'm not listening to any hi-roller about how a modest life is the way to go.

 

What maybe he's saying is, "I wanted to be famous, got famous, and it was horrible.  Maybe a modest life is better."

 

But everyone should try to be rich.   Just to see if they like it......

[worgeordie]

 'Annual income 20 pounds, annual expenditure 19 [pounds] 19 [shillings] and six [pence], result happiness. that's according to Mr. Micawber .David Copperfield

I follow his advice and I am happy......

regards Worgeordie

 

[GammaGlobulin]

CRISPR-Cas9

[cdemundo]

Just saw a video of Mike Tyson saying that the best years of his life were the years he spent in prison.

 

 

[Fat is a type of crazy]

If I can be a bit serious the elephant in the room is that I think you had the double whammy of being ripped off severely by someone and that person was an extremely close family member. If that's correct dealing with that might be the first thing. Everyone would find it hard to deal with that. 

[LaosLover]

It's def ok to want stuff and be restless. It costs a ton of money to live like Henry David Thoreau -who went home to his mother for dinner every night. Simple living is not inherently better than materialism.  A more useful phrase to live by is To Thine Own Self Be True.

 

There's a new conceit that wanting experiences makes you a deeper person than wanting stuff, but the drive is exactly the same. You could even go against the grain and point out that at least you get to hold on to the stuff and it provides you with more lasting pleasure than fleeting hot air balloon rides in Pattaya.

 

Hot air balloon rides are obv a euphemism here.

[jerrymahoney]

6 hours ago, Hummin said:

Thats what you know after the experience of success! You need the experience to know the value

As (1937) accredited to the wife of George S. Kaufman:

 

I’ve been poor and I’ve been rich. Rich is better!"

[GammaGlobulin]

In reality, the only foolproof way for humans to achieve happiness, the only 'key' to happiness, necessarily must come to us through gene manipulation. 

 

We are now entering our Brave New World in which gene manipulation will soon become commonplace. 

 

This is why I mentioned CRISPR-Cas9 technology, in my earlier comment. 

 

It is entirely within the bounds of presently understood science that we will soon be able to manipulate genes in ways which alter our "set-point" of perceived happiness, either up or down. 

 

Gene manipulation for the purpose of augmenting feelings of happiness is entirely within the realm of what today's science tells us is possible. 

 

We all know that some people are just naturally happier than others. Very soon, we will be able to identify the cluster of genes responsible for optimism and happiness, and singing while working. 

 

Once identified, then these genes will easily become susceptible to manipulation. 

 

For example. 

 

Think of yourselves as ears of corn. No more, no less. 

 

We have long been using traditional techniques to select for various varieties of corn. 

 

Some corn is sweet, which we eat. And other varieties of corn are grown for cattle feed, or for industrial uses. 

 

Recently, two dudes got a Nobel, in record time, for their work on CRISPR-CAS9, and gene manipulation. One of these dudes was a girl, and fairly young. 

 

Now flash back to the film 'Children of the Corn'. And then put 2 and 2 together. 

 

We are just now entering a new age of what we had once considered to be science fiction. We can even manipulate genes in vitro. 

 

The drug envisioned by Huxley, Soma, is now so retro. We have already leapfrogged ahead of Huxley's greatest hopes for Mankind. 

 

In my view, I believe we can soon, within the next 15 years, expect to see a Happiness vaccine. To be more precise, we will have two vaccines. We will have one for happiness, and another vaccine for unhappiness. In other words, we will each have the ability to dial in any degree of happiness or unhappiness, according to our specific requirements. 

 

Some of us require unhappiness in order to function at our peak. We all love that tune about fruit hanging from poplar trees. A magnificent song such as this would never have been composed out of sheer happiness. 

 

Tortured souls have so much to offer us. Without seeing the unhappiness of others, then how would we happy people know if we were happy or sad? 

 

Happiness is just another of those relative terms signifying nothing. 

 

When the Happiness vaccine becomes readily available, maybe from Pfizer, how many doses do you think you will need?  Six? 

 

If angst is an important factor contributing to the creative process, in some cases, will our culture survive the Happiness vaccine? Maybe just ask Huxley. Life would not be Life on Soma. 

 

As somebody, maybe Elias, said in the film, Platoon, "Take the pain." 

 

 

Such a happy tune....

Such a happy life.

Such a great singer.

Such a gift.

 

 

Edited July 28, 2022 by GammaGlobulin

[Hummin]

1 hour ago, jerrymahoney said:

As (1937) accredited to the wife of George S. Kaufman:

 

I’ve been poor and I’ve been rich. Rich is better!"

Being rich can have different meanings. I prefer a life without worries, that means having a good life and being secured, not necessary a big fortune.

 

 

[BritManToo]

23 minutes ago, Hummin said:

Being rich can have different meanings. I prefer a life without worries, that means having a good life and being secured, not necessary a big fortune.

My definition of rich is enough money to live without having to work.

If you're over 45 and still have to work in order to live you're a failure IMHO.

Edited July 28, 2022 by BritManToo

[Sparktrader]

39 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

My definition of rich is enough money to live without having to work.

If you're over 45 and still have to work in order to live you're a failure IMHO.

Western nations are expensive. U live in cm!

[BritManToo]

29 minutes ago, Sparktrader said:

Western nations are expensive. U live in cm!

Before my divorce at age 45 I was a retired millionaire in the Uk.

After my divorce I had to move to the 3rd world to make my remaining assets last without working.

 

I now have both a smaller house, smaller woman, and smaller outgoings, but bigger happiness.

[Kinnock]

" ........ brings more happiness than the pursuit of success combined with constant restlessness."

 

His quote on a piece of paper sold for $1.3 million...... bought by someone who got rich by pursuing success with constant restlessness?

[Sparktrader]

10 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Before my divorce at age 45 I was a retired millionaire in the Uk.

After my divorce I had to move to the 3rd world to make my remaining assets last without working.

 

I now have both a smaller house, smaller woman, and smaller outgoings, but bigger happiness.

Try 3 divorces