More money leads in almost all people to artificial value, short term superficial happiness, degradation of the soul. On the outside it looks great and shiny, but on the inside the soul starves and craves true happiness. Unfortunately, most rich people react unconsciously by spending more and more, in a desperate effort to fill the ever growing gap.

Longer term less money creates in almost all people higher valuation of the most simple and basic things, which translates to true happiness for the soul. Less money can restore happiness if people are willing.

But there is of course a lot more affected by the money in our lives, especially the ego. A rich men easily thinks he is really someone, a 'great' man, special, gifted, etc.. The poor man will most often struggle with the opposite thoughts and feelings, while in the end it's all false.

If I ever again have quite some money to spend, I'll be very vigilant, you'll see me desperately trying to hold myself back. Never trade your soul for money (or power) is my advice. And if you have a lot of it, use a substantial part to help poor children for example, give them food, education, that will create you some ever lasting happiness, at least, if you can hold yourself back from growing your ego on that.

I could not disagree more. In the vast majority of cases, money leads to less misery. Then you just lead your life without the obsessive material thoughts so many struggle with.

I do agree with your last point, though, that once you reach a certain level of stability, you should focus on either reducing other people's misery if you have the power to do so or creating things (either yourself or by proxy) that wouldn't exist in the world without your help.

Family first. No matter what, your lasting real human connections are your family. If you have a clear policy for when and how you will help people out, this can go a lot smoother. My grandparents, for example; They will help with education and medical expenses directly -- which is to say you can ask for help if you need it without looking like an idiot. Otherwise, if they are interested in something you are doing or want to help out in some other way, they will offer. If they don't offer you don't ask. Some families have a more liberal policies that seem to work for them but my family is pretty large and everyone knows what everyone else is doing so this works for us.

Second, hang out with other wealthy people. If everyone has enough and are dealing with the same issues, they are less likely to focus on the money and more likely to focus on the person.

Third, there are people who are not wealthy that just don't care that much about money. If you find them and like them, keep them around (this is where things can get tricky).

I've found that most of these 'hangers on' problems are self made. A lot of wealthy people are busy and will pay to keep people they like in their life -- they are used to using money as a proxy for time and it starts bleeding into parts that maybe it shouldn't. That's when people's feelings get hurt, despite best intentions, and those real human connections evaporate, sometimes very painfully. But as long as people don't tiptoe around issues these things can be handled.

After growing up in that environment, I knew money wasn't the answer. Instead, I placed my happiness in learning, helping others, and doing what I believed in. Couldn't be happier now!

For a lot of people those lasting connections are closer to lasting scars.

You can have $1bn and be totally miserable and miserly, you can have .15 and be generous and happy, and vice versa.

On what planet? You aren't going to be happy begging for food, walking everywhere you go, having no place to shower or sleep, not having clothes, etc. Certainly, each extra dollar gives you less marginal happiness as you move up the net worth scale into the tens and hundreds of millions of dollars. But if you aren't able to meet a certain reasonable minimum standard of living, you will be absolutely miserable.

For some people their minimum standard of living dose not require money. Buddhist monks[1] come to mind. There are also people that simply want to live away from society and thus have no real need for money.

[1] http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/buddhistworld/layguide.h...

(To give some examples of lifestyles that do not require income, nor external people paying for things.)

But the larger point stands, your state of mind and your access to resources are connected, very strongly at the poverty end. There are definitely people who can be very fulfilled with very few resources (until they get sick or it gets very cold) but they would all be happier with a bunch of money, even if that's just to give away to those in need.

If you have $100 in the bank on a good day, then your trips to the grocery store play out a lot differently than someone who has even $1,000 in the bank.

>Longer term less money creates in almost all people higher valuation of the most simple and basic things, which translates to true happiness for the soul.

Having been dead broke, severely underemployed while freelancing, and in a position where I would have been homeless were it not for my amazing girlfriend I can't help but feel a visceral amount of disagreement with this sentiment. Not having money is miserable. Currently I am pretty well off (greater than 75th percentile in the US) and the change in my life that I can directly attribute to having more money is astonishing. Placing a high value on basic things doesn't lead to happiness. It leads to stress, worry, sadness, self loathing, and worst of all envy. And if you have kids I can't even imagine the amount of guilt one might feel if you can't provide for them.

If you go to the grocery store and agonize over every item you place in your cart because not doing so means you might not be able to pay your rent there's almost no way you're going to have the will and the energy left at the end of the day to really enjoy the things that matter in life. It's just too draining and has a real opportunity cost. That's not placing a higher value on basic things, that's putting on blinders and only focusing on your immediate future.

There's a subtle paradox in ourselves for we crave easiness when I believe what we need is to learn how to abstract over complexity.

This will definitely cost me some points, I know, not being gay and not promoting them is just dreadful.

Pride - in race, in sexuality, in gender, in whatever else - comes from ostracism and marginalization. You band together, develop a group identity, form communities, etc, because the world treats you poorly. Gay Pride is a development out of necessity, not just for parade floats.

This goes beyond sexuality - there is a massive "geek" community out there that gathers for conventions, concerts, and whatever else you can think of. Much of this community formed as a result of ostracism, both real and perceived.

Ditto race. Blacks, Asians, and Latinos band together - both formally in organizations, or informally in communities - to combat the racism its members experience, and support its victims.

When you find any description of people marginalized, odds are you will find communities and organizations that have formed around it. Pride is a natural response - a collective "there is nothing wrong with being us!" is a natural response to a society that tells you that what you are is wrong.

Now, to address your context of your comment - you're incredibly lucky if you don't "get" gay pride. I think most marginalized people would like to live like you - never having to belong to a collective to defend your being, or having society treat you like an individual instead of a constant outsider. To be in a position where this marginalization is invisible to you is a fortunate circumstance indeed.

So it's particularly annoying to those of us who are still marginalized in society - in whatever ways - that you've turned this around to play the victim. You live an enviable life, where you don't need to band together with other marginalized people out of desperation or necessity, yet you have the gall to turn it around as if you're being punished for it.

Most gays hate Catholic Church. Do they believe in freedoms that they demand then?

> I truly hate the Gay Pride in our country. I think it is pathetic to be proud of your sexual orientation and feeling a need to show that off.

The notion of "Gay Pride" exists to specifically counter the widespread notion that being gay is something to be ashamed of. Countering shame with pride is way more effective than countering it with "meh, it's not relevant to my identity".

There are other, more subtle aspects of identity politics at play too, but I expect those would sail way over your head.

To run with the logic you present here, since Tim Cook has been a part of a pride parade, are you suggesting him an idiot and you yourself smarter?

What makes you think that?

Coming out takes balls. Someday, it won't make the news. I think we are only one generation away from equality in America. In other parts of the world, it could take a long time.

Still, I am very happy with the existence of Ubuntu, helping millions of people moving away from Windows and OSX. This is a huge boost for the development of software for linux.

Btw, keep it real and solve in CS like so:

console.log name for name in ["Ben", "Jafar", "Matt", "Priya", "Brian"]