[ExI] The Problem with Drugs (was Re: kepler study says 8.8e9 earthlike planets)

[John Clark]

On Sun, Nov 10, 2013 at 1:06 AM, Stathis Papaioannou <stathisp at gmail.com>wrote:

> Here's what Einstein would have done if he had direct access to his
> brain's control panel: he would have adjusted things so that his drive
> to do theoretical physics was even greater, the process more
> rewarding, and the dejection from going down a wrong pathway much less
> so as to minimise the risk that he would give up.


I hope something like that could be made to work but I see problems. It's
OK if he enjoys doing physics but to advance he must receive much more
pleasure from doing NEW physics, but the trouble is that's very hard to do
and happens rarely; it took Einstein over a decade to receive his reward in
the pleasure of finding General Relativity.  If you wanted to maximize your
happiness it seems to me it would be better to reset the switches in your
emotional control panel so that you received happiness not from finding new
physics but from something much easier to accomplish and therefore happens
a lot more often, like blowing bubbles.  I hope I'm wrong about this.

  John K Clark
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