Technology and Happiness in Civilization and Its Discontents and Waiting for Godot

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Technology and Happiness in Civilization and Its Discontents and Waiting for Godot Happiness is something most humans value above everything else. The various things in life that make us happy, such as family, friends, and cool cars, to name a few, are the very things we hold dearest to us and place the most value on. People fill their lives with things that please them to ease the gloom that comes as a result of the seemingly never-ending trials and tribulations of life. We gladly accept any amount of pleasure we can extract from the monotony of our daily lives, and we will do almost anything to achieve happiness. Throughout Civilization and Its Discontents, Freud talks about happiness-why we don't have it and how to attain it. He blames civilization for people's general unhappiness. Civilization is obsessed with technology, figuring out how the world works, and controlling nature. This focus on and excess of technology and science may have advantages, but it also has many disadvantages, the main one being unhappiness. Civilization hinders man's instinctual drives. Man is born with these innate drives, and when he is not able to fulfill them, he becomes miserable. There are restrictions placed on the members of a society through cultural norms and beliefs. All these things put together add up to an unhappy society. Freud believes that aggression is a primal instinct, and civilization thwarts this instinct, making man unhappy. Civilized society controls man's tendency toward aggression through rules and laws and the presence of authority. These mechanisms are put in place to guarantee safety and happiness for all individuals in a society. However, the necessity of suppressing the aggressive drive in m... ... middle of paper ... ...r us, and we will become lazy. What are we going to do all day if we have machines to make meals for us, to do our laundry, and to clean our houses? We would do nothing. We would become like Vladimir and Estragon in Waiting for Godot-we would be doing nothing more than existing, which we have seen does not bring much happiness. The fact that happiness is valuable is proven when one takes a look at the various aspects of an individual's life. Each person surrounds him/herself with the people and things that bring him/her the most pleasure. Our happiness is so important to us that we will do almost anything to be happy. While many people believe that technological advancements can bring happiness, there are too many problems that come along with these advancements that in the long run do not bring happiness. Better technology does not equal more happiness.

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