My guts are profoundly agitated when I think that advice on not making money should be given only if it was pure sarcasm, yet, on the other hand, I truly think items 1-14 are saying something that speaks to me on a deep level.
The reason one would only give advice on not making money sarcastically is because there is no goal served only by not making money (with rare exceptions, like making too much money right before the populist revolution comes with guillotines). Sometimes it’s a good tradeoff to avoid making money in order to serve your happiness or other ends, and there is much commentary and practical advice on such things (e.g. how to be happy with less money, evidence that things other than money are more happiness-enabling).
Perhaps you are uncomfortable because you feel that there should be a single path to happiness or satisfaction, or that you should be able to follow every path to happiness simultaneously, but that is not the case. Some paths are mutually exclusive and whether each will satisfy an individual depends on that individual. One can be happy traveling the world with their 100 possessions and sleeping on strangers’ couches every night. One can be happy being the CEO of a multinational conglomerate (maybe donating your income to GiveWell). But one can’t be happy by doing both of these at once, because that ain’t an option.
Revulsion I caused since we are counting about 70 votes so far, approximately half in each direction.
I don’t think the quantity of votes shows that people are feeling the same revulsion that you are. I believe it shows a disagreement on whether this topic is suitable to Less Wrong. PhilGoetz made a post that reminds me of this one and I made a comment germane to this question there. If you are accurately describing your intentions with the post, then the post may be too much like a performance art piece for ~50% of the audience, rather than a serious investigation or question. The tone of sarcasm frequently suggests that one has made up their mind about a topic and is not open to further discussion, rather than seeming to be a genuine inquiry, if you really wanted help “solving the problem.”
The reason one would only give advice on not making money sarcastically is because there is no goal served only by not making money (with rare exceptions, like making too much money right before the populist revolution comes with guillotines). Sometimes it’s a good tradeoff to avoid making money in order to serve your happiness or other ends, and there is much commentary and practical advice on such things (e.g. how to be happy with less money, evidence that things other than money are more happiness-enabling).
Perhaps you are uncomfortable because you feel that there should be a single path to happiness or satisfaction, or that you should be able to follow every path to happiness simultaneously, but that is not the case. Some paths are mutually exclusive and whether each will satisfy an individual depends on that individual. One can be happy traveling the world with their 100 possessions and sleeping on strangers’ couches every night. One can be happy being the CEO of a multinational conglomerate (maybe donating your income to GiveWell). But one can’t be happy by doing both of these at once, because that ain’t an option.
I don’t think the quantity of votes shows that people are feeling the same revulsion that you are. I believe it shows a disagreement on whether this topic is suitable to Less Wrong. PhilGoetz made a post that reminds me of this one and I made a comment germane to this question there. If you are accurately describing your intentions with the post, then the post may be too much like a performance art piece for ~50% of the audience, rather than a serious investigation or question. The tone of sarcasm frequently suggests that one has made up their mind about a topic and is not open to further discussion, rather than seeming to be a genuine inquiry, if you really wanted help “solving the problem.”