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Derek Young

Thinker and Experimenter,

TEDCRED 30+

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What is being good at logic good for if it doens't bring you happiness?

I recently played a game called "ir/rational Redux" online and at the end credits, it is said what is logic good for if it doesn't bring you happiness?

That really perplexed me because I would like to be extremely logical, but I know that I'm not that great, so I have room to improve.

How and where does happiness and logic intertwine with just the right amount of balance for you?

Thanks for reading my thoughts. Hope to read your story. =)

Topics: happiness life experience logic
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  • Efrain Torres

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    Jul 25 2012: I think logic and happiness must be always complemented. Today at 5:00 PM, my work partner accidentally overrite three hous of work from a report I have to discuss tomorrow with my boss. I do not complain. Woking together the presentation was completed in one hour.

  • Efrain Torres

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    Jul 23 2012: We all suffer from an unbalanced life in more or less degree. i not always make what makes me happy, but what makes other people happy. That make me feel I'm not alone in this world.
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    Debra Smith 200+

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    Jul 22 2012: Not everything good makes us happier. i have seen very few people celebrate a vacination for example. However, much good can come of truly good things and ultimately they increase happiness even when they are not noticed.
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    Gail . 50+

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    Jul 17 2012: Hard to say in 2k characters, but I'll try.

    I remember having a conversation with a friend about a hot political topic. After 3 hours, I had to agree that he was right. But with that recognition, I saw how I had been using emotions to guide me - not clear rational thought. It was a great lesson.

    When I began using logic to predetermine my choices, I started making VERY different choices. As the consequences of those choices played out, I found that life just got better and better. Fear went away. I think this is because I learned that rational thought eliminates fear of consequences. Decisions based on rational thought simply do not produce suffering as consequence. What freedom!!!!

    Decisions based on emotions are fear-based decisions. All fear-based decisions produce fear-filled consequences. Decisions based on rational thought produce fear-free consequences.

    It took me a while to "get it", but now I easily see ideas in the abstract, which makes logical thought jump out at me in what I can only call geometric ways.

    If you were to eliminate fear from your life, how would you use the time that you had been using experiencing fear - and in most cases, amplifying the energy spent by denying the fear. There is so much more that the average person can do with a life when energy is freed to pursue happiness.
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    Gail . 50+

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    Jul 16 2012: Logic has brought me GREAT happiness, but I surely did have to learn that what my culture calls logic isn't logical at all.
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    Sarah M

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    Jul 13 2012: Interesting Question Derek
    Does Logic and common sense go hand in hand? If so the only thing about common sense is it isn't very common.

    To me Logic is a cognitive function - Working things out, Problem Solving.

    Happiness is an emotion.

    Rationalizing and working things out doesn’t really involve emotions but often emotions come into play with most decisions. In answer to your statement.

    Logic alone cannot bring happiness unless every logical discussion leads to a happy ending.

    Can a person be too logical? Does that leave a person cold and unfeeling?

    I don’t think it is a matter of balance between the 2 I think we are comparing Apples and Oranges really. Both functions of the brain but Logic - Thinking, Happiness - feeling

    • Paul Redling

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      Jul 14 2012: Common sense is common. "Good judgement is rare" is what I believe you mean. Common sense is the sense that the majority has. Maybe the definition of common sense has changed, or maybe the expectations of common sense have risen. Whichever the case, common sense is common. Good sense is what you mean.

      And i would also like to point out that if logic is thinking, thinking can bring on certain emotions. We think about food, we become hungry. We even start salivating. It's called reaction. Thinking about people you love makes you happy. Logic (L) can be used to overcome adversity (A). Overcoming adversity can create pride (P) (another emotion (E)). Happiness (H) can stem from pride.

      L+A=P
      E={P,H}
      L+A=H
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        Sarah M

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        Jul 14 2012: In my experience common sense not very common. Many people I know of high intellect have no common sense at all. To me Logic isn’t just a thought it is a process, an action. Just thinking about food isn't necessarily a form of Logic it’s just a thought that starts off other reactions in the body.

        • Paul Redling

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          Jul 14 2012: That was an example of thought not logic. Logic can be used to solve puzzles. The last time you did the New York Times X-word, did you feel good when you finished? And like I said, your definition of common sense is wrong. By definition common sense is the sense most people have. GOOD sense is hard to find in your experience. Maybe sense to you is sense that nobody else has. It's like saying the dominant species is hard to find. Maybe it used to be dinosaurs, and yes they are hard to find now, but the dominant species has changed and it is easy to find. Does that make sense?
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        Sarah M

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        Jul 14 2012: LOL We are using a lot of the word sense here. There is a saying Common Sense isn’t very common but your version Good Sense makes sense :-). It’s not sense that just I have. It’s a sense that some have but not others in my experience. Yes that was an example of Thought. I thought we were talking about Logic not a primitive hunger response?? Logic not just a thought?

        • Paul Redling

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          Jul 14 2012: Yes. Logic is a thought PROCESS that we use to overcome obstacles and answer questions, as well as do simple things to function and keep ourselves alive. Much logic is so second nature it IS indeed common sense. If a surface in the kitchen has four circles on it and one of them is glowing red, you don't touch it. That's logic, and common sense. Sense is simple logic. More complex logic is things like sudoku and chemical reactions. They follow specific rules and can be predicted, but take more time and are not so everyday that the answer becomes instinct.
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      Derek Young 30+

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      Jul 14 2012: Hello Sarah,

      In response to your first comment in this thread, I think somewhere in the world they have spliced apples and oranges into one fruit.....can't seemed to find it though....maybe it's my imagination. =P
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        Sarah M

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        Jul 14 2012: Sounds like a delicious fruit !!!
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    Erik Richardson 500+

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    TEDx Organizer
    Jul 13 2012: Logic does not tell us which goals to pursue, but does two important things with respect to those goals.

    1.) It helps us avoid making bad or inconsistent decisions in the process of working toward those goals, and
    2.) It allows us to make sure that the set of goals itself is not inconsistent.
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    Fritzie Reisner 100+

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    Host
    Jul 13 2012: Logic is part of what helps a person understand the world and make good decisions. Being able to think critically allows a person also to contribute meaningfully on a scale larger than himself, which is one component, typically, of a happy life, according to Martin Seligman (see TED talk on positive psychology for example).
    Being an excellent critical thinker in no way interferes with being able to love or engage emotionally. There is, in fact, no trade-off between them. It is not difficult to be at once an excellent critical thinker, a highly creative person, and a person who loves abundantly.
    I wonder whether believing there is a tradeoff (or even in the extreme view that these are mutually exclusive categories) interferes with learning and integrated thinking at all ages.
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      Derek Young 30+

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      Jul 13 2012: Aha! I like your comment Fritzie! That is true, where does this idea of a trade off come from anyways?

      For some reason I feel that this topic somehow goes back to when people think of blunt honesty and how it is usually difficult to accept that blunt honesty. Some people have said that they would like a sugar coated world, but they don't realize that blunt honesty is not actually the truth, so I think there is no need for going into denial mode when told something honest, but which is not necessarily true, I think.
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        Fritzie Reisner 100+

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        Host
        Jul 13 2012: Do you mean that when someone speaks his mind truthfully and bluntly, he may still be wrong?

        I am not quite seeing the connection here yet.
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          Derek Young 30+

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          Jul 14 2012: I was referring to the pathological truth-teller conversation, but I have concluded that truth is different from blunt honesty, and I was actually referring to blunt honesty instead of truth-teller. ANYwho.....the idea that someone may like someone elses honest opinions to be sugar coated is a personal preference, but before I had the conversation I related truth to blunt honesty, so I am relating how people use the tradeoff of happiness and logic is like someones honest answer compared to sugar coated responses. That was probably something less relative to this conversation though, maybe....

          Did that clarify things up a bit?
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        Fritzie Reisner 100+

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        Host
        Jul 14 2012: No, but if you don't think the analogy that you see is important for this conversation, there is no need to explain further.
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    Feyisayo Anjorin 50+

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    Jul 13 2012: I agree with Pat Gibert. Logic is not meant to give one happiness.

    Jesus Christ says 'And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free' John 8:32

    Sometimes logic does not bring the liberty that is desperately needed. An addict could be convinced by logic that he or she needs to give up on the substance; but how does logic cure her or him of his addiction?

    Happiness comes from contentment with the imperfect state of the world in general, combined with the passion of commitment to work hard in getting our priorities right.(keeping the main things as the main things)

    • Paul Redling

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      Jul 14 2012: Your hypothetical addict does not realize that logic is also weighing the pros and cons. If the addict's goal is happiness alone, and the addict uses logic, the addict will realize that the best way to achieve long-lasting, consequence-free (or at least less consequential than continuing to (ab)use the substance) state of happiness is to give up the substance. Becoming free of an addiction hold more pros and less cons than continuing to (ab)use the substance. Logic would lead the addict to the state of mind that we know as happiness. In this way, the two are intertwined. Logic tells us that overcoming adversity can bring happiness, and logic can be used to overcome adversity. Hence, logic can indeed be a path to happiness. But, happiness has other sources and logic has other uses as well.
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    pat gilbert 50+

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    Jul 13 2012: The statement is irrelevant. Happiness comes from purposes and goals overcoming barriers and succeeding. It does not come from a video game.

    Logic is a tool for overcoming barriers from this sucess you gain happiness. Logic will help you perceive and circumvent dangers.
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    Salim Solaiman 50+

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    Jul 13 2012: We are emotional being..........and logic does not pamper our emotion always .....at times rather it does the opposite.
    The most happy person to me is a smiling / laughing baby......do you feel that smiling / laughing babies around the world using logic to be happy...?

  • Barry Palmer 50+

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    Jul 13 2012: First, if your goal is happiness, why would you even start to think something like cold logic would be useful for producing an emotional result? You could also ask, what is math good for if it does not bring you happiness?

    What is being good at logic good for? Start by asking (and answering) what is logic good for?

  • Paul Redling

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    Jul 13 2012: Ignorance is bliss. The answer to that question is logic is pointless if it brings you no happiness, if your definition of the meaning of life or the root of human nature is happiness. I believe human nature is destruction and to end things, and logic provides us with a way to reason out the best way to come out with the correct answer and move on to the next problem. Skype me if you want to chat I don't like typing. I'm nanocreation76
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      Sarah M

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      Jul 14 2012: Oh Paul
      I really do think we are really off track now. The question isn't about what Logic is . I have just read your response to this topic. There are many things many people do everyday that have a lot to do with logic but nothing to do with happiness. A lot of people get up every day and go to work - Logic. Happiness has nothing to do with it if you hate your job. You believe human nature is destruction and to end things ? You are far to young to be so cynical.
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