[asg70]

Sex is like any other pleasure insofar as it's subject to the law of diminishing returns when done in excess.

This is the hedonic treadmill.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedonic_treadmill

It's also a big factor in why happiness plateaus rather than continuing in a linear fashion with money.

It's also why today's liberated young women who have phones overflowing with prospective tinder hookups aren't necessarily as happy as you'd think. It's also why having more and more channels and instant streaming options of movies and music doesn't necessarily make you happier. When something is available in endless quantity with little effort required to obtain it--it no longer seems to hold the same value.

The problem with the "american dream" is that it is built upon a lie rather than a truth, that more and more "stuff" will bring you happiness. That is what George Carlin challenged, and I agree with him there. It's also true, though, that when you start out in life with nothing that it's pretty much impossible to know this. It's a lot easier to know it if you become successful enough to afford all the things you once dreamed of and learn that all that glitters is not gold.

So American culture is, IMHO, stuck in an immature state of development. It's fine to want to attain financial security but all of this "I wan i', I got i''" is just plain immature, psychologically and spiritually. Ariana Grande lives through the bombing of her concert only to produce a song like this which suggests she learned absolutely nothing in the experience:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYh6mYIJG2Y

725 million views are proof positive of where we are as a culture.

[JuanP]

Ibon and ASG,
Good points regarding sexual perversions and diminishing returns. I also totally agree that you can't buy happiness and consuming more won't make you happier after your basic needs are satisfied. I grew up surrounded by very rich, mostly very unhappy people, and learnt as a teenager that most of the middle class in Uruguay led happier, more fulfilling lives than those of us that were wealthier. But, as ASG, pointed out that understanding is probably a consequence of my privileged upbringing, and it may be harder for those who've always struggled economically to learn that lesson. That's why I've always sought to be useful to others rather than wealthier; I know it makes me a happier person.

[EnergyUnlimited]

So sad to unhide someone like EnergyUnlimited only to see more evidence that he is only capable of interpreting the world solely around his brand of bigoted politics.

I am only pointing out decadence.

Look, there is no single reason for why we're screwed. Environmentally speaking, pound for pound, it's more of a right-wing problem than a left-wing although the narcissism and hedonism and misplaced priorities of the anything-goes generation doesn't help matters, but the young tend to at least be more cognizant of the problem (think the Greta worship) even if they aren't doing much on the ground to combat it.

Right is responsible for setting up industry which causes damage in the first place.
Left is responsible for spread of general stupidity and consumerism - mindless consumption because "people are entitled...".
And of course women are a main driving force of this mindlessness. Most of men can easily live with *less*.
But yes - if left got its way then progress of idiotization of society will crash life support system and in longer term, after a due dieoff it is going to be beneficial to environment.
However right can also remedy situation - by return to puritanism, self reliance and refusal of assistance to increasingly helpless degenerados it can also cause a dieoff to remedy overpopulation, and scale down industry to sustainable level.

I just don't think it fits neatly into a left/right box. Human beings in general are pleasure seekers. Powerdown is ANATHEMA to that regardless of your political ideology. Asceticism simply doesn't sell.

Agreed - that is why powerdown will be enforced by Nature, not designed by man.
The only *designed* and recent attempt of powerdown which I am aware of was Pol Pot's Cambodia.

The kind of thinking that is most damaging is the sentiment expressed in the "pursuit of happiness" clause of the Constitution. It's tragedy of the commons. Nobody wants to take responsibility for their part of the collective commons. They feel a sense of entitlement to consume on the commons and shy away from the idea that by doing so it robs others or future generations. Either this is fueled by surplus mentality, ignorant of ecology, or a selfish musical-chairs hoarding impulse, there is very little support for holding back. Everyone just gets what they can while they can.

This trait was always present everywhere on the world, regardless of constitutions and other laws.
Humans are not capable to address it on any meaningful scale (albeit Amish in US are an example of small scale efforts) so ultimately Nature will have to deal with it one way or another and she will.

Humans are even far too stupid to define and agree what happiness really is.
Working more to do more shopping (above certain level) is not really a happiness.
More like mindlessness.

[Cog]

I'll see all of you in hell.*






*From heaven