(August 11, 2015 at 12:23 pm)robvalue Wrote: This is my problem. Obviously we were not designed, but if we were, it was by a sick bastard. We seem way, way more able to experience extensive and continual levels of suffering compared to pleasure.
I've talked about this before, I feel that even when I was mentally healthy my capacity for suffering was exponentially higher than my capacity for happiness. It's not like the scale goes from -100 to +100, it's more like it goes from -1,000,000 to +100. Added to that the fact that time appears to grind to a halt when we are suffering to prolong it and whizzes by when we are happy, and you have a recipe for disasterI'd be interested to know if others feel the same.
Would I put up with one day of torture for one day of bliss? No! I wouldn't even put up with one day of torture for 100 years of bliss.
I would not introduce the numerical expressions you have selected, but I more or less agree with you. Even if the range positive and negative were the same, one can exist for longer periods in the extreme negative end than at the extreme positive end.
You are right that this is not something that fits with a good god designing things. It does, however, fit with evolution. With life generally, much of what one does is avoid things that can kill you. The great pain that is possible is a strong motivator. And if you could experience continual bliss, that would tend to impede further action, which would not be conducive to a long life. Evolutionarily speaking, it makes sense that people and animals are more capable of continuous pain than continuous pleasure. But this state of affairs is not compatible with a benevolent creator.
"A wise man ... proportions his belief to the evidence."
— David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Section X, Part I.
