Guy McPherson and Mike Sliwa created this show and it airs live every first Tuesday of the month on the Progressive Radio Network (PRN.FM) at 3 p.m. Eastern.
This week’s show included a conversation with Sarah Perry, author of the 2014 book, Every Cradle is a Grave. We wrapped with a climate-change update, consistent with our usual approach.
Rather than eschewing all suffering, individuals frequently accept some degree of suffering in pursuit of other rewards – either in the form of meaning or in the form of pleasure. The mountain climber or medical student affirmatively chooses to suffer for the purpose of future experiences, pleasurable or meaningful. Others, looking back on times of suffering, say they are glad to have had such experiences. When making decisions for ourselves, there is no moral problem with trading off suffering for pleasure or meaning; it appears to be a social fact that people do not minimize suffering in their own lives.
—Sarah Perry
The original show appeared at Nature Bats Last and is republished here with permission.
Photo credit: Flickr/Jim Papier