I, Robot

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by KrazyHorse
I act towards my greatest inclinations. Duh. By definition.

However those are not equivalent to greatest happiness. Especially not greatest immediate happiness.

Perceived greatest immediate happiness.

[Boris Godunov]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker
They're diminishing their FUTURE happiness for immediate happiness. Everyone seeks to maximize their immediate happiness. It's just that some derive happiness simply from being secure in the knowledge that that happiness will exist in the future.

This is simply false, and when you're out there in Real World (TM), you'll see that people frequently forsake their immediate happiness for longterm goals. And no, they don't enjoy doing that. It frequently leads to stress and misery and immediate unhappiness.

Assuming they derive enough "happiness" from that misery ( ) to balance out the torture they put themselves through is rather purile.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Thanks a lot, dump it all on me, why don't ya?

Well you can only bang your head against the wall so many times, ya dig? I got a Fantasy Football League to run .

[GePap]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker
Perceived greatest immediate happiness.

Sorry, but any definiton based on somethign as arbitrary as "happiness" is bound to fail.

For example, a Buddhist would state that the happiness you mention is desire, which is the result of being empty and trying to fill that void- by definition, evrything and anything you do will fail to make you happy. Now, I know you counter by saying "percieved" happiness-the fault here is that if you KNOW that what you are doign will only derive short term pleasure for long term pain, then you can no longer justify it under the rubrick of "self-interest", since that is generally accepted as meaning people are rational actors- and doing something you KNOW to only lead to short term pleasure with long term costs is inherently irrational, becuase doing something known to be wrong (factually, not morally) is irrational.

[Natalinasmpf]

There is a sort of feedback loop in happiness.

Happiness is originally formed by the fulfillment of whatever higher virtue...but then if happiness itself starts to form that virtue, it will create a feedback loop but only slightly.

Then perhaps its the overall assessment. After all, quote from Nicomachean Ethics - "the happy life is thought to be of excellence...now an excellent life does not consist of amusement". If you follow the whole happiness is the absence of sorrow (being the state of content when there are no threats to whatever threats our sentience perceives), that there will be less sorrow later on if we suffer a bit now. Then that, if the sorrow torments us too much, it will co-erce us into resolving it - immediately.