#266 — The Limits of Pleasure

Sam Harris speaks with Paul Bloom about the role that pain and
suffering play in living a good life. They discuss the
limitations of hedonism, the connection between chosen suffering
and meaning, the research of Daniel Kahneman on well-being,
integrating the experiencing and remembering selves, moral
motivations, the effects of parenthood on happiness, unchosen
suffering, the asymmetry of loss and gain, Nozick’s “experience
machine” thought experiment, effective altruism, valuing the
future more than the past, the power of contrast, false ideals of
happiness, polyamory, money and status, the role of the
imagination, boredom, the power of apology, and other topics.


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