Wouldn’t it be cool if people just trusted each other’s gut feelings more often and did not need to waste time on gathering data? Reminded me of that research where scientists confirmed that when you fall in love your heart rate goes up. Such a profound discovery …

- we believe that people “at the top” know what they’re doing (just like teachers at school knew all the right answers)
- there must be some rational explanation of their actions (and it’s not the psychological quirks from their childhoods)?

I think we can be (accidentally or not) steered in the wrong direction (by our bosses, clients, spouses, etc.) when we don’t know what we like or want. So these questions are not merely about our hedonistic preferences; answers to them can significantly impact our lives.

But what we’re envious about is not always obvious. Maybe what we want is not a nice car, but the feeling of the financial security the owner of the car has. Or the attention he gets from women.

So we must be careful not to find ourselves completely alone in a car we’ve spent all our money on.

I don’t take the phrase “I don’t envy anyone” seriously. They must be lying to themselves. But according to Nietzsche, envy shows us our true desires and instead of being ashamed of it, we should own it and use it as a guide to discover our needs and stop reframing our poverty as noble modesty.