The program is not working
The program is not functioning properly. predicted that the pursuit of wealth would make people forget the importance of their spiritual and moral wellbeing and I think he was right
**Guys, I’ve been wondering: Are rich people okay? There was the recent New York Magazine article about wealthy Manhattanites struggling to keep up with the Joneses when the Joneses own a private jet. Last year, Kim Kardashian told women to get your [__] ass up and work in a country that, on average, logs 400 more work hours annually than our European counterparts. Hello, European counterparts, I hope you’re enjoying the rest and relaxation you get from those 400 hours. And of course, there’s Elon Musk blowing billions of dollars to popularize his vanity meme account. It almost makes you wonder if being rich gives you a sucky personality.
Well, a fountain of studies suggests that rich people are more narcissistic, less empathetic, and less compassionate. When driving, they’re more likely to cut off other cars and pedestrians, which explains why I’ve almost been run over by four different Teslas. They’re more likely to cheat at games with modest fiscal prizes, which is why I never play poker with billionaires. Also, I don’t know how to play poker and I don’t know any billionaires, but still. In one study, even having a bunch of Monopoly money made people behave less kindly, including, I swear to God I’m not making this up, making people more likely to steal candy that was intended for children. Who’s done this to me? Who’s taken candy from a baby? That’s right, even delusional wealth makes you an absolute monster.
But being wealthy doesn’t just make you a bad hang. It can also bum you out. Wealthy people suffer from higher rates of depression and enjoy lower relationship satisfaction. Rich kids are more likely to experience things like anxiety and depression. This all makes us wonder: Is being extremely wealthy inherently corrosive? What are the existential effects of being a billionaire? And for that matter, what does it do to society when some people are just super rich?
Let’s find out in this Wisecrack Edition: Just Being Filthy Rich Break Your Brain. Philosophers have debated the merits of material wealth for ages, and long story short, they’re usually either ambivalent about or even actively hostile to it. For Aristotle, money was a practical necessity, but not a noble end to pursue in and of itself. Cash was merely a medium for acquiring stuff you want. Aristotle warned against desiring excessive wealth, saying the life of money-making is one undertaken under compulsion and wealth is evidently not the good we are seeking for it is merely useful and for the sake of something else.
Indeed, today some psychologists argue that an obsession with accumulating money can constitute an addiction comparable to drugs and sex. Coincidence, really? You can buy both of those things with money, so I guess if you’re going to be addicted to sex and drugs, get addicted to money first, or don’t be addicted to any of them.
Centuries later, even Adam Invisible Hand Smith was adamant that money couldn’t make you happy. He cautioned that getting rich was an ugly business, citing all that leisure, all that ease, all that careless security which are forfeited forever, and the pursuit of wealth, and all that toil, all that anxiety, all those mortifications which must be undergone along the way. He argued that, in his era at least, even a low-wage labor job paid enough to meet all your basic material needs. If only that was still the case. Am I right?
So, [__] included, people don’t actually pursue wealth in search of material comforts, but rather in search of attention. He writes, it is the vanity, not the ease or the pleasure, which interest us. That’s crazy. Like, he really what an idiot he thought that people would get rich because they wanted attention. When is a rich person ever just wanted attention? Ever? Except for all the time.
Soren Kierkegaard forecasted a world where money would become the main focus of life. He predicted that the pursuit of wealth would make people forget the importance of their spiritual and moral wellbeing. And I think he was right.