Value Investing World

Monday, March 14, 2011

Alain de Botton: The Glass of Life is Half Empty

Found via Miguel at Simoleon Sense.

Here are a few basic truths: life is essentially meaningless; your hard work won’t dictate where your life goes; you will be struck down by death; and your loved ones and your achievements will whither and turn to dust. A grim way to look at things perhaps. But a long line of philosophers, starting with the Stoics, have seen wisdom in taking a dim view. As Alain de Botton points out, a pessimistic outlook reduces our expectations, our envy, our disappointment, and it creates room for emotional upside and healthier life decisions. The talk (which features a sing-along to Elton John at the 29 minute mark) runs 38 wisdom-filled minutes, and it’s presented online by The School of Life, a London-based institution co-founded by de Botton in 2008. A big thanks to Miguel for sending this our way.

………………..

Related previous posts:

TED Talk - Alain de Botton: A kinder, gentler philosophy of success

Philosophy: A Guide to Happiness

Posted by Joe at 3/14/2011
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Value Investing World is a blog dedicated to promoting the multidisciplinary approach to investing and development of – as Charlie Munger describes it – a latticework of mental models. Although largely focused on linking to investing and economic material it deems of interest, it will also post and link to material from other disciplines that it thinks worth reading or watching.

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Warren Buffett

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Expert Performance / Self-Improvement

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