Depression makes you more creative (we’re assuming for the moment that’s desirable).
As I mentioned elsewhere, I’m rather listless and without goals at the moment. The problem that looms largest in my consciousness is that I am underworked (yes, you read that right, it’s not a typo).
Tom Talbot’s own personal suggestion in the opening link got me thinking about how lately I’ve been listening to more energetic oi/punk/garage music, and less of the grunge, doom and sludge metal that I used to. Part of that is due to my harddrive crashing and taking my collection of music with it. I think another part is that because I feel less energetic I have been seeking out the musical equivalent of simple carbohydrates to give me a boost (at least in the short term). I also occasionally think about buying an instrument (I hear bass guitar has a good learning curve), but considering how poorly I’ve sustained interest in Kolko, du Berrier and the Online Stat Book I doubt I’ll stick to it. I can’t even sit through Bloggingheads diavlogs or EconTalks anymore without getting restless and opening up another tab to read something else, only to inevitably miss what’s being said and have to rewind.
RELATED UPDATE: Agnostic suggests we are evolving to become miserable. Sample quote: “maximizing long-term material well-being minimizes long-term hedonic well-being”.
March 31, 2009 at 12:07 am
Come to LA and do drugs with Chip and me. I will fix your embarrassing taste in music.
March 31, 2009 at 1:11 am
Bloggingheads and Econtalk are getting more and more boring. The only interesting exchanges I’ve heard recently were Shiller and Taleb on ET and Cochran on BH.
It’s not you, it’s them.
You know Electric Politics? It’s pretty lefty, but it has some good interviews. Even one with Kolko.
March 31, 2009 at 12:15 pm
Creative depression must be properly balanced…the supposition is based on no statistical analysis, because none presently exists, to my knowledge, anyhow.
In any case, those who utilize it as a method might balance it with severe physical exercise and necessarily ubiquitous smart drugs.
What an analyis of any number of historical figures show us is that they suffered from the black dog while prolific and flourishing.
They self-medicated, crudely, of course and frequently were unable to manage the creature and receded into it.
March 31, 2009 at 8:05 pm
Sister Y, I’m afraid I’m terminally unhip. And isn’t Chip in Charleston? My company has clients in L.A, so if I get sent down there I’ll try to make some time.
truthisntleftorright, I had never heard of Electric Politics, but I appreciate the pointer and I’ll check it out.
March 31, 2009 at 9:21 pm
TGGP,
My advice? Take Sister Y up on that offer. It may be a cliche to say “you only live once” but it’s true. Your body will have a hard time enjoying ___, drugs and rock n’ roll (in my case electronic mu-sick) later in life. I’m only 30 but I feel the age effect creeping up on me.
March 31, 2009 at 10:25 pm
TGGP,
It’s true. Me and the wife will be in LA just short of a week come mid-April, hanging with my favorite suicide girl and other unseemly characters. If you get the itch, please do come. Seriously. I’ll teach you how to drink and make mirth. We’ll be irresponsible as hell. At some point, I’ll defeat you arm-wrestling and I’ll gloat until you cry. Then I’ll comfort you and take you to the zoo. Travelocity beckons. Hit me for details.
March 31, 2009 at 11:20 pm
I’m a skinny little wimp, so I don’t doubt it. I’ll see what I can do, although I did just agree to work an as-yet-unspecified weekend in mid-April. I am also unfortunately committed to only drinking responsibly since the late unpleasantness. That gets me to thinking: perhaps Dave Loggins’ “Please Come to Boston” would have been better if it had more reckless disregard for mortality.
You’re 30, Dain? Christ, I thought you were about my age. I guess I forgot you were in grad school rather than undergrad.
I should probably also visit Rollins sometime, since him and G. Smith are in my own state.
April 1, 2009 at 11:43 am
Yea I’m old, but I’ve been told I look younger than I am. But my newfound smoking habit will speed up the aging process I’m sure.
There are drugs designed to treat the symptoms of your terminal illness TGGP, if not cure it.
April 1, 2009 at 2:42 pm
take up game
April 1, 2009 at 5:30 pm
Ok, more diversion. TGGP, you see this interview with Judith Rich Harris at Spiked?
http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php?/site/reviewofbooks_article/6399/
April 1, 2009 at 7:55 pm
Sebastian, I’m so heavily invested in a certain conception of myself that the very thought of cadhood fills me with revulsion. My attitude is like that of the Inductivist but more atavistic and less moralistic.
Thanks for the tip, Dain. By coincidence, Bryan Caplan just had a short exchange with Harris to clarify her position.
April 2, 2009 at 10:41 pm
Get a night job . . . or quit your day job. Either might prove interesting, and depression is often simply boredom by another name.
April 2, 2009 at 11:29 pm
I think of getting another job sometimes, but it took me long enough to land this one in an economy better than the present and I do hold out hope that as time goes on I’ll become as weighted-down with work as my colleagues.
April 5, 2009 at 12:58 pm
[...] More Reasons To Be Against Happiness by TGGP [...]
April 6, 2009 at 10:04 am
The dilemma of underwork:
http://buyukliman.blogspot.com/2009/04/idle-hands.html
July 6, 2009 at 8:31 pm
[...] drunk once remarked, the only one who is truly happy is the village idiot. Feel free to be against happiness, but it’s hard to use it as a stick against [...]
December 17, 2009 at 3:41 am
Hé, hé, hé, there are only two cures for this kind of despair, stupidity and true laziness, alas neither can be learnt…