Ben 22 math major

You're now chatting with a random stranger. Say hi!

You both like Buddhist, and Buddhism.

Stranger: hi

You: https://class.coursera.org/behavioralecon-001/lecture/79

You: hello

Stranger: what is that?

Stranger: I can't copy omegle text easily

You: A Beginner's Guide to Irrational Behavior

You: course from coursera

Stranger: i see

Stranger: why are you suggesting it to me?

You: maybe

You: I love the word autodidact

You: so so much

Stranger: ok...

You: why are you here?

Stranger: to talk about religions

You: for what purpose

Stranger: it is a form of practise

You: Buddhist?

Stranger: to practise thinking

Stranger: I am not

You: good

You: what do you read?

Stranger: many things

You: age?

Stranger: 22

You: 19

You: do you have any quotes on thought

You: (on demand)

You: or nearby

Stranger: not really

Stranger: oh wait

Stranger: "as you think, so shall you become"

You: law of attraction

You: how about this though:

You: Here were kind people—wonderful people,
who were spending hours in terrible
conditions to serve their patients.
And they were not saying, you know, I
don't know which is the right way.
They were convinced that the right thing
to do was actually the thing that was
wrong.
It's not as if they say, I just don't know
what the right answer is.
No they actually had a strong conviction
that they knew what the right answer is,
but that was not the right one.

You: from the prof. I am listening to (past lecture)

Stranger: so these people are convinced that something that is wrong, is right?

Stranger: so they are deluded?

You: so this prof. was burned--full body.

You: the nurses

You: thought they knew the

You: least painful way to take off his bandages

You: I think this story is a metaphor for how most American's act.

You: by the way I'm from Wisconsin

Stranger: am I right to think that this way of taking the bandages off was not the least painful?

You: the way his nurses did?

You: then no.

You: he studied behavioralism and pain and such

You: before I saw the lecture I would think of this idea (from the text) as "good people" trying to do "good things" but failing or even going against their true purpose

You: thoughts?

You: connects to anything you've read?

Stranger: I would see it as a mistake they made that they were unaware of

You: So if I said what I mean straight out:

You: the mistake that ppl make--unaware: life has the Purpose of happiness

Stranger: we humans, in life, are goal oriented to seek that which leads to greater happiness

You: I only partially agree about the goal oriented part

You: And, if we could speak like this:

You: http://wordvandals.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/key-terms-from-paulo-freire.pdf#page=2

You: that'd be great

You: (just right click, and copy?)

Stranger: i see

Stranger: though I do like argument and debate

You: why?

Stranger: for the challenge and to win

You: aghhh

You: I work as a counselor at a summer camp

Stranger: :listening to find flaws and make counter arguments"<--- I like thins

Stranger: this*

You: my boss said that is a good way to get kids involved

You: So, I'm talking too much, what is the "objective" of your life?

Stranger: to protect a certain person

Stranger: and make them happy I guess

Stranger: I view life as a game, and that is the current objective of that game

Stranger: though it need not be so

You: eeeaghhhh (long sigh) really happiness

You: what is there besides?

You: (and besides extremes, ie, opposite)

Stranger: I found extreme happiness once. now I believe I should seek to make this other person happy, and that will make me happy, and that is enough

You: what is there for a Purpose besides happiness?

Stranger: purpose? like a goal, well I have a specific goal. that goal could lead me personally to happiness I suppose. as a human I like what is pleasant and dislike what is unpleasant

Stranger: my actions show this

Stranger: to continue to act seeking good and avoiding bad is what being human means

Stranger: until you die and can no longer act

Stranger: the idea of happiness and a purpose are very similar objects n the human psyche, happiness defines what a good purpose is

Stranger: in*

You: but what is there BESIDES happiness for a Goal?

You: what is possible?

Stranger: there is happiness in general, then specific instances of happiness, but we don't have a "goal" without it being a form of happiness

Stranger: goal and happiness are connected, one to one

Stranger: so I don't think there is much other than happiness for a goal or purpose

Stranger: we could try to act randomly, but we won't do that unless we want to act randomly

You: ok, fine, how about /after/ being *content* what is a Goal of that--what could help curb that Purpose?

Stranger: a that point acting randomly makes us happy and it sn't random

Stranger: if you're content, there is no purpose. satisfaction is the death of desire

You: Ok to be honest, I was fishing

Stranger: luckily, we are never content

Stranger: i see

Stranger: what did you want to find?

You: so the goal is personal enjoyment

You: not peace, amelioration of extreme poverty, education reform/revolution

You: or something else??

Stranger: once we understand that we are connected to our world, our own personal enjoyment gets tied up to how everyone else, the whole world, is doing, so when we seek "personal enjoyment", part of that will include more "noble" goals such as helping the world at large. For me, I feel that my happiness is very connected to another person's happiness, so for me to enjoy, they must also enjoy

Stranger: peace, no more poverty, etc, can be subsumed into the seeking of personal happiness

Stranger: just as the happiness of another individual can become subsuned into my own seeking of personal happiness

You: country?

You: US

Stranger: usa

You: name?

Stranger: ben

You: adam

You: do you have any books to recommend to me?

Stranger: Godel, Esher, Bach, an eternal golden braid

You: authors?

Stranger: by Douglas Hofstadter

You: that's one book?

Stranger: one book

You: cool beans

You: reading wikiped

You: this is cool!!

You: what are your personally favorite books or better

You: do you have a goodreads.com account?

Stranger: no I don't

Stranger: one of my favorite books is Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus

You: existential crisis!

Stranger: yep

You: I am sitting in front of a picture (I mirrored/ drew) of a man rolling a bolder up...

You: I just read somewhere that the myth also is a metaphor for consumerism

You: since "Gödel, Escher, Bach"... do you know symbolic logic??

You: or knew?

Stranger: I know of logic and symbols, so I guess so

Stranger: I majored in math in college