Legend of the Cyber Heroes
Chapter 447 - 91: A Life Should Be Spent Like This

Chapter 447: Chapter 91: A Life Should Be Spent Like This

"Why is it different? This question doesn’t even need to be asked," Zhu Xinyu frowned. "I am not the same as him at all. I...I don’t care about that stinking money."

Xiang Shan said, "Yes, you’re naturally different from that person. But why?"

"There’s no why, because I’m not a piece of trash!" Zhu Xinyu said indignantly.

Xiang Shan shook his head, "Not necessarily. I think it’s because you are someone who knows what they’re thinking."

"So? What about it?"

"Besides ’immediate, physiological pleasure,’ there is something called ’long-term happiness.’

"I’m not saying that ’long-term and stable happiness’ is necessarily much better than physiological pleasure. After all, humans are machines of flesh and blood. Whatever the brain does, that’s the kind of thoughts that will arise. Substance abuse is an action that can bring intense physiological pleasure. If the meaning of life is about ’continuation’ and ’seeking pleasure,’ then why don’t humans, after fulfilling their duty of reproduction, drown themselves in pleasure through cheap drugs?"

Zhu Xinyu stared at him, "That’s too..."

"Ask yourself. It’s possible for humans to obtain physiological pleasure while being unhappy due to ’disgust with oneself,’" Xiang Shan said.

Zhu Xinyu thought for a moment and said, "It seems to be true..."

"It’s all a brain regulation mechanism," Xiang Shan stated, "Evolution uses pleasure as a reward, encouraging living beings to find food to fill their stomachs and to mate in order to reproduce. However, evolution also ensures that this pleasure fades quickly; otherwise, creatures that have eaten their fill will continue eating, forgetting the grand business of reproduction. Or creatures immersed in mating will forget to seek food and be unable to perform the next act of reproduction."

"So, unless you mess up your own brain, destroying this mechanism, dissatisfaction and suffering will always exist. Even if one uses illegal drugs to obtain physiological pleasure, when the effects of the drugs diminish, when the brain isn’t completely damaged yet...there will be double the suffering attacking."

"But in the long term, in the course of a long life, accumulating happiness...in this process, whether looking forward to the future or reminiscing about the past, one can obtain greater, total happiness. Maybe at an individual moment, such ’satisfaction’ might be substantial."

Nobel laureate in economics Daniel Kahneman (Daniel Kahneman) conducted a famous study. Volunteers described their typical workday schedule at his request and then evaluated how much they liked or disliked these moments in segments. He found that most people’s views on life are actually contradictory. Take "raising the next generation" for example. If judged solely on the estimated ’happiness’ or ’dislike’ values, child-rearing can be said to be quite unpleasant. Often, raising children means changing diapers, washing dishes, dealing with their crying and temper tantrums—all of which are considered unpleasant chores. Yet, most parents say that their children are their main source of happiness.

This may also be a constraint given by the evolutionary mechanism. But it does reveal a little about the workings of the human spirit.

Happiness is not as simple as "having more pleasant moments than painful ones." On the contrary, happiness depends on the overall life of a person; if one’s life as a whole is meaningful and valuable, they can achieve happiness.

Zhu Xinyu asked, "So what does this have to do with my dislike of money?"

"Because you understand this. You know what money can buy. Money can buy lots of good food and drink, but you think the bodily pleasure it brings is not that great. Money can bring respect, but you feel that what you do is more deserving of others’ respect. In your vision, when you are old and gray, looking back on the years that have passed, you will not regret having wasted your time, nor will you feel ashamed for having achieved nothing."

"That’s how one’s life should be lived! The most precious thing to a person is life, we each have only one. Therefore, a person’s life should be spent like this. Then, when on one’s deathbed, they can say, ’My entire life and all my energy have been devoted to the most magnificent cause in the world.’"

Xiang Shan stood up, his tone becoming slightly excited.

"But the guy I told you about, he’s living the good life," Zhu Xinyu sneered.

"And that person you hate, he truly wishes to have what money can bring him. He thinks that having money means ’success.’ He should achieve ’happiness.’ The environment he has experienced has created this scale of value in him—having money means having happiness, so everything else is unimportant," Xiang Shan said. "To be honest, ’happiness’ is something very difficult to quantify. So I can’t guarantee that his current ’happiness’ will definitely outweigh the ’emptiness.’ I cannot tell you that his happiness is definitely fake either. But according to the theory that ’there is an upper limit to human happiness’ and ’pleasure fades quickly,’ the happiness his brain can give him will definitely not be much higher than a normal happy family. However, if there is only this scale of value in society, then his happiness will cause more ’unhappiness’ for many others."

Although Zhu Xinyu still didn’t quite understand Xiang Shan’s words, the last sentence was clear enough for him.

So Zhu Xinyu nodded in agreement.

"That’s why I think the world’s scales of value should be more diverse. If ’being skilled at labor,’ ’possessing high artistic achievement,’ ’entertaining the public,’ and ’acquiring money’ could be placed in the same position, allowing people to receive similar praise and feedback, then the overall happiness of humanity might increase quite a bit, right?"

Zhu Xinyu couldn’t help but applaud, "Exactly, why not."

"But sometimes you have to admit, money is still pretty important," Xiang Shan sighed.

Zhu Xinyu’s smiling face disappeared immediately, "What’s with you? You say both the good and the bad."

"If someone has been poor, they should know that in this era, it’s tough to maintain dignity without money, because people will indeed reject and look down on you because you don’t have money. Sometimes, having no money means not being able to survive, or not being able to live through poverty and illness. Since that’s the reality, you can’t blame people for having only this kind of value concept."

Zhu Xinyu gritted his teeth, "You, a rich kid, wouldn’t understand what it’s like to be poor."

Xiang Shan said, "You really believed my joke, huh? According to the records, your family is richer than mine...ah!"

Zhu Xinyu kicked Xiang Shan and then walked out of the lounge, saying, "I’m going back!"