Happiness or Freedom?

[The Rockerfly]

I swear this was around yesterday

I choose happiness because you are never ever truly free and it's very easy to be truly happy

 

[Gaz6231]

Why would anyone choose freedom over happiness? If we're going purely by Matrix analogy, people in the Matrix don't know they're not 'free', and are therefore free to do what they like in their world.

In general terms, if you choose happiness, you're agreeing to be confined, which means you are no longer a slave in the true sense and have chosen freely. If you choose freedom, you've made a choice based on what you believe to be right, what makes you happy. Both choices are essentially the same choice.

LOGIC FTW

 

[Ldude893]

Just because you're happy doesn't mean you're free.
Just because you're free doesn't mean you're happy.

I pick happiness. None of us are actually completely free and we can always obtain happiness.

 

[Duskwaith]

The happiness freedom brings would be my answer

 

[Marowit]

Well, considering I'm a gamer, and enjoy my escapism, I'd probably have to go with happiness. Sure Freedom offers one more pride and chest thumping...but if I were that kind of a Person I'd know by now...I'd be wondering Denali, washing at truck stops with no permanent address, and a Grizzly Adams beard...just existing...nope I'll take Society, Civilization, and all that comes with it.

 

[The Hairminator]

Red pill, but if I know myself right I would spend the rest of my existence regretting it.

 

[Macgyvercas]

It's an interesting situation, but there can be only one clear answer:

*cues William Wallace*

Spoiler

 

[Mimssy]

I couldn't be happy without my freedom.

 

[Jaranja]

If you had to choose, which one would it be? Basically I'm asking that, if we lived in the Matrix, and someone offered you a red pill, with which you'd be free of the illusion, but have to deal with the harsh ,cruel, reality, or a blue pill, with which you'd continue on in a happy sate of blissful ignorance, which one would you choose?

Red Pill. I want to learn everything in a 24 hour red bull fest. ;D

Then get killed by agents...

Happiness please! Who cares about being in an illusion if it's awesome?

 

[s0p0g]

well, if we're talking matrix here, then give me the blue pill.
as long as it runs all smooth and stable, the virtual life is far better than the real wasteland where giant squids come piercing my body.
here, in virtuality, i've got the chance to actually do what i want - within the limits of "our" society, but still... you know what i mean.
in reality, i can... work in a tunnel, or work aboard a anti-g-hovercraft. duh.

 

[Arkhangelsk]

My happiness lies in my freedom, but my freedom is pointless if I'm not happy. So it can only work if I have some of both.

 

[Icarion (aka Stockholm)]

As the somewhat great Ben Franklin said, "He who would give up a little freedom for a little security deserves neither." So give me like 10 red pills

 

[DocAscii]

This thread is all cute and patriotic and stuff, but I'd take blissful ignorance any day. I'm happy.... HAPPY. If I'm happy, I don't care that I can't spoof the president or walk outside at night or that my family members often mysteriously disappear for weeks and return with an overactive drooling mechanism. Happy feels good, and feeling good always feels better than not feeling good.

"Yeah but you have no choices, and you're a slave, and they can do whatever they want to you"

Yeah, and I'm happy about it. 18 hours of mining always puts a smile on my face.

--

You have to be more careful picking your hypotheticals. Try something like Freedom vs Standard of Living. Try discussing the current state of downtrodden people in dictatorships. Per Shakespeare, should they continue to suffer, or should they rise up at the expense of many lives, and risk dying without succeeding? How do you weigh the chances?

I live in a society where I make more money sitting at a computer than I could doing any manual labour, or mopping vomit, or working over a boiling vat of oil. Even those alternatives are far better than scavenging dumps for cans and steel, and then sleep in a pile of burlap sacks under some metal shingles.

I'm blessed that the hardest choice I have is where to go out for dinner, which is much harder than this cutesy thought experiment.

I'm lucky to have the luxury of being free and I'm happy because of it.

 

[Edorf]

Everyone would choose happiness (assuming that IF you choose freedom, you WONT be happy)
I mean, freedom itself isnt any good. Freedom is good because when you are free you are happy, freedom isnt even a feeling!

 

[hawkeye52]

hey if the point of freedom is that we become happy why not choose happiness

 

[Anarchemitis]

Freedom vs. Happiness does not present a dichotomy [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dichotomy].
Both can be achieved by means of the other, therefore I can have my cake and eat it.