The Depression Thing
While I did not mention this in that original contribution, here is a 200 page essay I wrote in 2008 on re-envisioning another university I attended as a post-scarcity institution -- hopefully one which countered depression and other pathologies with positive psychology, healthy action, and hope:
&quot;Post-Scarcity Princeton, or, Reading between the lines of PAW for prospective Princeton students, or, the Health Risks of Heart Disease&quot;
<a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;pdfernhout.net&#x2F;reading-between-the-lines.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;pdfernhout.net&#x2F;reading-between-the-lines.html</a><p>From the introduction: &quot;With Princeton-praising articles titled &quot;Jumping From the Ivory Tower&quot;, it seems like PAW [Princeton Alumni Weekly] is not helping answer these deep questions. If anything, PAW is helping bury them under inappropriate humor. This essay is not intended in any way to condone violence or the abdication of personal responsibility. But it is intended to help understand some of these issues of suicide and alienation in a university context, and to make suggestions for improvements to the social part of these issues. It even tries to use humor in relation to suicide and morbid themes a bit more appropriately (satirically about PU in this case, discussing options like its voluntary peaceful self-dissolution to help a billion poor children get an education, or its metaphorical death and rebirth as an agent of global economic transcendence to a post-scarcity society of abundance for all). It is always easier to destroy than to create, so this essay includes some specific suggestions for improving the situation at Princeton University, which is a mythologically-troubled institution (even as it is filled with many wonderful and caring people).&quot;<p>One issue I explore is that the virtues of elitism, competition, and excellence that Princeton University celebrates all have shadow sides like alienation, destructiveness, and perfectionism which can lead to depression, anxiety, and a host of other illnesses from extremism (including heart disease possibly from an extreme fat-free diet which killed a classmate at an early age), such as when I wrote: &quot;I can also hope that many of these issues at PU continue to slowly change. There is some hopeful news now and then in PAW (like more profiles of alternative alumni careers), even as the deep issues about &quot;elitism&quot; (alienation?), &quot;competition&quot; (destructiveness?), and &quot;excellence&quot; (dissatisfaction? perfectionism? excessive self-criticism?) usually remain unspoken.&quot;