By Spencer Greenberg and Amber Dawn Ace
This piece first appeared on ClearerThinking.org on February 28, 2024, was edited on February 29, 2024, and appeared here with minor edits on March 27, 2024.
Does money buy happiness? Intuitively, the answer is yes: common sense tells us that poverty and hardship make people unhappy. We can use money to buy a lot of things that might make us happier – things like a nicer home, fancier vacations, education for our children, or just the oppor...
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homeostasis
On “superstimuli” and their dangers
A “superstimulus” triggers a response that evolution gave us, but to a stronger degree than is likely to occur in nature. They exist because we humans purposely optimize our environments to create these responses.
We are surrounded by more superstimuli than most of us realize.
Examples of superstimuli:
• food: Cheetos / skittles / McDonalds
• goal achievement: video games
• visual arousal: porn
• pair bonding: romance novels
• affection: dogs
...
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