Be a clam; do the right thing :)

I heard this from Clarence last night, when he shared about his philosophy class.

"Would you rather be born into an upper-middle class family, do well in school, find the love of your life, get married, have kids, get promotion in work, get rich, grow old, and die at 70, or would you be a ...

A clam. A clam is immortal. He sits there every day. Maybe he occasionally get some good food, some clam sex [whatever that is!], but he's immortal. His happiness level will increase 0.1 every day, as compared to the human who has a "happy life!", but dies at 70.

If you are a hedonist, you should pick the clam! Because there comes a day when the clam lives long enough to exceed the happiness of the human!"

I was stunned. Would you be a clam?

The story continues.

"Unfortunately, many humans said no, hedonist or not."

The surprising part's coming.

"However, if you ask a clam whether he wants to be immortal and have his happiness increasing every day, or being a happy human and dying at 70, he obviously would choose to be a ~ ?"

- my thoughts: Human! why would he choose to be a clam?! Such a boring life.

"A clam, of course. Why would he want to die at 70? It's so nice sitting on the ocean floor and doing nothing. Imagine forgoing clam-sex for the rest of your life!"

- My thoughts: He probably can't understand the kind of happiness humans can have, and instead look at the "die at 70", frown, and rather be incrementally happy each day. -

Lessons:

1. We don't choose to be a clam because we don't understand what being a clam is like, and cannot relate to its happiness.


2. When you think about it, it really doesn't matter who you are, what situation you're in; you'll always prefer being yourself to being a clam.


3. There's something good about your life that you don't see, that no one understands. Find that, and you'll be happy as a clam! (How ironic!)


4. Don't compare. The other life might not be as good as the one you're having :)
   

If you would choose to be a clam, well done there too! Simplicity as a way of life. The argument has to be put into context: it was on decision-making for the hedonists. Those who choose to be a clam after reading this post might not have been a hedonist :P
Even more amazing:
Quek DF: I'd much rather be a rock. One of those metamorphosis rocks basking in the warmth of the nearby mantle. Gradually accumulating bliss for billions of years.
Ooo, from another commenter:
Those who willingly choose the clam are the true hedonists, because they seek to maximise their total pleasure in a clam life (or rock life). In that sense, I would probably probe them further as to whether they would choose the 70-year-old happy person, or be a infant who gets injected with heroin every second (and then dies within a few weeks). If they now choose the 70-year-old person, then they have some thinking to do about why they prefer the clam, but not the heroin baby.
It's intriguing that people would claim that they won't choose the human life. Hypothetically speaking, of course anyone can choose the clam, especially since it bears no outcome in this thought experiment. One would probably stand out from the crowd by claiming to choose the clam. All's hypothetical; if the person is really faced with this decision in front of the divine being, and he knows that his choice will 'seal his fate', how many will still opt for the clam?