Alain de Botton: A kinder, gentler philosophy of success

Very inspiring.

In summary, by calling poor "unfortunates" we will fix an anxiety problem brought by pace of modern lifestyle. Also, we should define your own goals and successes, instead of competing with your peers. It's all nice, but there are objective reasons why people follow existing value systems based on their upbringing and available resources. De Botton can's fix everything it's okay to have some anxiety.

i agree 100%. you see more paradoxes than ever

that was amazing

He is a fantastic speaker! His series of shows "Philosophy: A Guide to Happiness" were great as well! Alain de Bottom has potential as a great popularizer of philosophy.

it's de Botton, not de Bottom. Bottom has nothing to do with it, really. Or has it?

By Institutionalize I mean he accepts it & excludes anything that might have produced such harshness in the first place. He merely blames each individuals subjective morality for not reacting in a nice way to these conditions. It is a middlebrow English metaphysics of niceness.

The appearances in history of this harshness he gives as facts without giving any underlying causes.

Success can't also be folded into his monadic person, though, eg, adverts like "go on buy it you are worth it" try.

success and failure, yes very much influenced from the outside world other than yourself as an individual, but i think as long as you feel you have done what needs to be done in your personal level, i think that determines if you have succeeded, for failure i think you only fail when you stop believing in yourself for what you do, when you get sucked into the spiral of what other people believe is success/failure e.g the media.

I guess governments and powerful people have a huge motive/reason to keep us trapped in this nightmarish 'money = possessions = success = happiness + social acceptance' rat race bubble.

If we all did what were designed/supposed to,ie grew + hunted enough food to feed our families, built a shelter/home for them,and gained happiness + contentment from the things that really matter(ie NOT money and more 'stuff') then their monopoly would end and the whole system would collapse around them.