In other words, "you got a better idea?" No, I guess I don't.
That's one for Deep Thought.
What's a better pursuit than the pursuit of happiness after all?
nothing.
In theory, I think the key to success with getting as close to total satisfaction as possible, lies in focusing on creating that for someone else. I read a cool quote that seems to relate, "Happiness is not easy to find running straight for it. It is usually too elusive, too ephemeral, too subtle... Most times happiness comes to us when we least expect it, when we are busy doing something else. Happiness is a product of some other endeavor." The idea of satisfaction coming from having all of our needs met, rings hollow, but reaching out to others, tends to "plug those holes."
I've derailed your initial point completely! But it's been a nice side track to ponder on.
I wonder if it would've made a difference if she was blind, or blindfolded. As it was she would look him in the eye and he would see another conscience evaluating him there. One he didn't trust or wasn't sure would accept him, and so he couldn't get in the mood feeling that process going on. Not that a person who can't see can't judge, but the eyes often betray a person's thoughts in a way the body does not. There's a reason poker players wear sunglasses indoors, or you hear the phrase "look me in the eye". Even with practice it is hard to make the eyes lie. Multiply this by Theodore's insecurity and it's a recipe for failure.
Thinking about it, an element I don't think came up during our discussion was his previous relationship. It's overshadowed by the newness and weirdness of the AI-relationship, but for understanding Theodore I guess it is kind of a critical part of the film. There are multiple, substantial scenes addressing that aspect of his past, and additionally a present day scene where he's coming to terms with that relationship being over for good (signing divorce papers). Anyways, that final encounter with his ex is pretty raw... thoughts she might've buried in the past out of kindness for Theodores feelings finally come out. He comes away reliving all the old fights they had, feeling all the old failures... it really shakes his confidence trying to work out if what he just heard about himself is really true. It's with all those feelings swirling around in his head he gets surprised by this surrogate lover proposal. No wonder it falls apart... he's so exposed after his meeting with his ex he's sure this surrogate lover will see in him what she saw. And she may not be wrong.
The worst timing! Even on a good day, that experiment would take a great deal of mental gymnastics. Thank you for explaining what was going on, so I can understand better. Yeah, eyes are way too revealing. I would think intimacy is created through the eyes, so that blindfold idea is a must--she's completely in the way. I have to say, having this conversation, strikes me as very funny.
The impulse is to forget a bad memory or some trauma... but if you survived it than perhaps you're the better for it, or gained some critical insight into life. In which case you might throw the baby out with bath water. I think maybe it's better, strange as it sounds, to forget a happy memory. Perhaps the happiest memory you think you're likely to experience again before you die, and where experiencing it for the "first" time would be advantageous.
Ha! Only you would think of this. So great.
The temptation might be to, say, pick your favourite movie... "I'd love to see that again for the first time". I wonder if you really would when push came to shove though. I've invested a lot of time in my favourite films, and gained a lot from those investments. Would I really like to erase that and start from scratch for a moment of pleasure? No, I don't think I would. And it's not guaranteed that I would even like the film again coming at it from a different place in my life, without that history with it as a connection.
I agree completely.
Perhaps best would be to forget something that isn't true. A misconception which leads me to make bad decisions. Of course if I knew what that was I would already have corrected for it.
You'd have to have someone else, who knows, do that for you then. If it were an honest person, they'd delete something where you'd gone wrong, but if it's not, they could remove an aha moment and really mess up your future.
Something I've observed in trading is that in certain circumstances naivete is advantageous to a person. A lack of fear due to inexperience. If you don't know how hard something can hurt you're not going to be as afraid to do it. It can result in a larger gamble than a person knows they took and a larger reward because luck was on their side. In trading this, almost inevitably, leads to a spectacular blow-up down the road because the person was lead to believe their theory had turned to fact, and they wagered accordingly at the earliest opportunity.
This is only problematic in certain activities though. For others the earliest opportunity may never come, and the rewards from a one-time gamble more than carry them through their remaining days. Dot-com millionaires for instance.
Or a movie example:
"Billy, no one of our age has ever taken power!"
"Which is why we're too young to realise that certain things are impossible. So we will do them anyway."
Things where the life-cycle of the misconception is longer than the life-cycle of the human who possesses it. Unfortunately in trading the "revelations" are often undone the very next day.
I have often been in situations where I've felt the hindrance of caution that comes with experience or education. You occasionally see it in organized fighting: paralysis by analysis. A person processing too much, they don't just throw a punch because they are trying to think ten punches ahead. They end up not doing anything at all but reacting to the other fighter. And typically the guy who isn't dictating the fight, loses the fight.
You see how long this stupid answer is? You think I might be prone to this tendency? I know I can be. I fought Judo as a kid. My technique was textbook, really really strong technically, but when I entered tournaments I lost a lot more than I won, and sometimes to lower level fighters. Why? Because I was always reacting, never acting. I was trying to time the perfect move and my opponent was just doing the first thing came to mind. World class teachers at my dojo, you know what they didn't teach... instincts. Had to figure that one out on my own. 15 years late for my judo career though, lol.
One more point of observation. You'll often see fighters who seem like they are putting on an angry face. In my humble opinion it's because they've discovered they fight better when they're angry. When you're angry you think less. You just act. For fighters prone to overthinking this is a useful way to mitigate the problem.
I've had so much fun reading your thought processes processing! Your brain is the coolest, because you come up with the darndest things! I'm picturing you trying to out think an opponent that has on his angry face and cares less about strategy! Being immobilized by caution and looking at the ramifications is something I understand too well, so your analogy makes perfect sense.
Thanks smirnoff, for the laughs and the deep thinking.