Are Emotions Bad?
Is this question even possible to answer? As a human who experiences emotions with a bias toward justifying my own existence, am I able to fairly evaluate this one?
I write this post after reading Gideon Lewis Kraus’ piece for the New Yorker on the NY Times v. Scott Alexander (Slate Star Codex) incident. I have a growing curiosity to better understand and explore the rationalist movement.
“The markets are unforgiving and emotional trading always results in losses.” – Alexander Elder
The cryptocurrency industry meets at the convergence of finance and technology to create the internet of value. It was this combination of interests that first attracted me to the work.
One thing that traders and technologists have in common is a desire to remove emotions entirely from their decision-making process. When it comes to building the future or winning on a trade, rationality must prevail. Emotions are often perceived as bugaboos that lead to failure or worse. Analytical, probabilistically weighted, algorithmic decisions are deemed superior to any decision driven by feeling.
It is probably true that purely rational decisions lead to better outcomes than those driven by emotion (please send me evidence of this if you have it). However, in our desire to remove emotions from the decision-making process, I believe we have taken it too far: we seem to want to remove emotions entirely. This reveals a deeper desire to remove our humanity entirely.
The desire to remove emotions is a perfect representation of the delicate dance between the desire for existence and the desire for nonexistence described as two of the root causes of suffering in Buddhism.
We hope to remove emotions to ensure the continued survival of humanity, but in so doing we remove our humanity itself.
Is this really the best endgame for the transhumanist movement?
The existence of emotions seems to be one of the few remaining truths that connects all us humans in a world that is increasingly divided. Perhaps they should be celebrated.
“If all emotions are common coin, then what is unique to the good man? To welcome with affection what is sent by fate.” – Marcus Aurelius
I tried to remove my emotional bias in writing this post without attachment to the answer, but it is clear to me that from the beginning I believed emotions to be good.
Yes, sometimes they may cloud our judgement, but for those of you hyper vigilantly working to remove emotions from every equation, I’d offer a different approach – treat emotions like data.
The Stoics encouraged us to deeply reflect on our emotions in order to learn about ourselves and humanity in general.
In a world that seems both confused by and hostile to emotions, cultivating a respect, appreciation, and deep understanding of them may well become a superpower.
Let me know what you think of this post
This Week’s Podcast:
Passive Mindfulness with Oleg Stavitsky, Co-Founder & CEO of Endel
“I now have this professional ‘illness’ where everything sounds like music to me, everything is constantly blending into a soundscape.”
Oleg Stavitsky is building Endel as a tool for humans to fight information overload and its associated mental disorders.
Endel app creates personalized soundscapes to give your mind and body what it needs to achieve total immersion in any task. Completely aligned with the circadian rhythm, these finely-tuned personalized sounds are good for stress reduction, productivity boost, deep work, daily relaxation, calm sleep.
In this episode, Oleg and I discuss whether technology is the right tool to solve mental health issues, the effect of music on our neurology, why it’s important to include artists in the creation of technology, and the difference between noise, sound, and music.
If you’re building AR tools or technology to up-level human consciousness, reach out!
What I’m Reading
IDEAS
Such, Such Were the Joys, George Orwell
How Innovation Works, Matt Ridley on Naval Ravikant Podcast
The Six Kinds of Power, Jim Schleckser
MARKETS
The Economic Policy Response to COVID19, Yale Program on Financial Stability
MEDIA
Slate Star Codex & Silicon Valley’s War Against the Media, Gideon Lewis-Kraus The New Yorker
POLITICS
Kanye West Interview for Forbes
CRYPTO
Terra, Cosmos, Polkadot Launch Anchor Protocol
CryptoDollars, Castle Island Ventures
COVID19
Herd Immunity May be Closer than You Think, WSJ
Here are the Billionaires who Received PPP Loans, NBC News
Thank you for reading this edition of the Look Up! Weekly.
As always, feel free to reach out with feedback, guest recommendations, and ideas for future posts and episodes.
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