[guylhem]

Excellent point. But "if the result of happiness_from_identification_with_current_religion + happiness_from_how_people_make_me_feel" is negative, maybe a) you are unhappy, b) it's not an untractable problem because c) there is something you can change in the equation, and there is something you can't change.

You know the saying - you can't change the others, only yourself.

[icebraining]

Some things are worth being unhappy about.

"The more we gave in, the more we complied with that kind of treatment, the more oppressive it became."

[guylhem]

I guess it all depends on one's utility function.

If you think that in life, suffering is a good thing, or that some things are more important that your own happiness, yes they are.

[icebraining]

Even if you only consider personal happiness as important, you should reflect on the quote I posted. Some temporary unhappiness and struggle may be preferable in the long run.

[ktizo]

Perhaps there is a bit more to life than a 'utility function'.

[YuriNiyazov]

No there isn't. That's the beauty of a 'utility function' - it _is_ the "what there is to life".

[ktizo]

Only from a very narrow set of perspectives. There are many perspectives on life and for many of them a 'utility function' would seem nonsensical at best. Economics is not as all-encompassing a discipline as some people would like to make out.

[YuriNiyazov]

Would you care to come up with such a "perspective on life"? I bet that for any actual, constructed perspective (rather than an a-priori incompatible one like "a perspective on life such that it doesn't admit a utility function") a utility function can be defined.

[wpietri]

Right, and this is basically saying that we should be aware of how much anti-Muslim prejudice sucks to experience, so that we can start changing ourselves.

[ktizo]

I'm not sure I agree with that saying. There would seem to be overwhelming evidence against it for one thing.