Forums / Discussion / Serious Debate

Which one do you think weighs more on the scale? Does life have to be enjoyable and comfortable to be worthwhile or should one keep a hold of it no matter what happens or how little hope there is? If, say, zombie apocalypse or some other "fall of civilization" kind of scenario happened would you still strive for another day?

Me, I'm strongly inclined towards the first option. While I know life has it's challenges, it's still delightful and I hope to enjoy of whatever career path I manage to make. But I probably wouldn't bother to wait for another sunrise if I ever found myself thinking: "I simply can't be happy with a life like this and there's no hope for change." (It's kind of ironic considering how much I love the afromentioned post-apocalyptic settings in movies and games.)

Feel free to discuss!

I'm a survivalist. Not only because I like to be alive but because I would want to know what was happening and going on and be part of it. On the other hand, my little sister who can't deal with the idea of death at all says she would rather shoot herself on the first day of the collapse or apocalypse or whatever.

I also don't ever think there's no hope or direction to go to change something if you don't like where you're headed sooo.

Survival. Happiness is ephemeral; it comes and it goes. Life can only go once, making it a much more worthwhile investment. Life can be filled with happiness at some points and lacking at others. You should always hold out hope that things will get better, because even in the darkest of times there is always the possibility of a happy outcome.

"Gotta have a little sadness once in a while so you know when the good times come." – Bob Ross

What's the point of living if you don't feel alive?

I'd rather die happy than survive miserable.

Living while depressed isn't really living so… Happy.

I'm on the happy side of things. If there's a thermonuclear war, I want to be right at ground zero and not fifty miles away, struggling through thirty years of cancer and the new toilet paper monetary system.

I want to live life, not merely exist in it.

No offense, but the moment I saw you posted in this thread I knew you'd pick survival because of your strongly republican leanings to a point where I was gonna be disappointed in you if you didn't choose it. Don't know why but that's just how I feel about you. :p

Anyway let's break this down it's a question of quality or quantity. Here's my way of reinterpreting the question: If you chose an eternity in hell over a second in heaven followed by your soul's death, I'd have to say that's a foolish choice because a sane person should not want to live in hell forever instead of immediately reaching their demise after a moment of bliss. So in that circumstance it's clear one would logically choose quality over quantity, or as OP worded it, happiness over survival.

However, we are usually not faced with such a black-and-white choice and though in the most extreme circumstances such as the ones I mentioned you would likely choose quality over quantity, in our normal human circumstances where one might be choosing to live a slightly less enjoyable in exchange for a slightly longer life, I'd say you would want to balance things just so that you are not dying really fast and happy, but also not dying really slow and unhappy.

The fact is, Spock knows best in that he does not try to choose between these two things, simply choosing "live long and prosperous." I would have to say the question in itself is too limiting for my tastes and agree with Spock, as why would one try choosing between the two in an absolute 100% of the time manner, when there is no absolute 100% of the time manner that works in either the scenario of choosing purely happiness or choosing purely survival.

Survive long and happily.

Because conservatives are expected to be crazy preppers with large gun collections who go down fighting. My dad is a prepper. He's concerned about society collapsing and aliens. Everyone in my family has a go bag with 3 days worth of food, water, and survival supplies and an empty 10g gas container in their car trunk because he makes us keep them in there. I added doggy supplies to mine, 3 days worth of food and water and a couple blankets for my two chichis.

It's kind of a pain but then again if society does collapse, I have a great chance at making it out of the initial fray.

yeah!

GOOD QUESTION!

I feel like a little bit of FREE ENTERTAINMENT activism shall help us feel more alive!!!!!!!!

If you are alive, you can be happy anytime. If you die, no matter how happy you were, no more happiness for you.

You may live 3 weeks happy, but then die. Your happiness didn't last. Or you may live for 70 years, and experience the ocasional happiness along the road like everyone else.

Joy and fun can, should and will come and go eventually, ocasionally, in life…..but you need to be alive to begin with, to experience happiness, no? Why aim for a big smile and short life, instead of aiming for living as long as possible so you can smile as many times as you can before death?

you live to be happy.

if you live without happiness then then living becomes a chore that has no reward and therefore, meaningless

If I have to pick one, I'd pick happy.

Although, I prefer an equal combination. It's like the balance of science and art. Science lets us live, and art lets us enjoy it.

Well I first would need to survive to be happy, you can't get to one without getting to the other first.

Is it even possible to ever know that the rest of your life will be misery, virtually devoid of joy? If it is, and I ever reach that state, you can go ahead and count me out. Other than that though, what's the point of giving up?

You're right, there's no hope for change… at least not with that attitude. As long as you are alive you can work and try to change things (both in the scenario you proposed and in real life, we are responsible for our own lives and our own actions will determine our future). "No hope" is the excuse weak people use to justify their own weakness, you have to earn your own happiness, and the only way to do so is keeping alive and fighting day by day.

It's better to live a second in Heaven than two seconds in Hell.

Survival.

I've learned you can create, and re-create happiness, even in the most bleakest, darkest moments.

But you to accomplish any of that, you have to first survive.

I think survive first, be happy later.

Seriously though, what's the point of living if you cannot enjoy it?

Happiness. What would I do with the extra time anyway besides try to enjoy it?

Happiness. Survival is a bit too edgy for me.