some people have misunderstood my previous post.

to me, an object is simply what one observes or "knows" about it, nothing more. there is nothing intrinsic or true about what something "really" is. what one likes about an object is based on his knowledge of it; the concept of "that object" to a person is identical to what the person "knows" about it. thus, by learning more about an object, one changes the concept of "that object", since what he "knows" about it has changed. the change may be for better or for worse. if, based on what one "knows" about the object, he is able to seek joy from purely the "knowledge" of that object, or to gain joy from what he associates with the object, then that "knowledge" of that object itself is sufficient to give him joy. By attaining more "knowledge" about the object, one risks losing all the joy that one could have had, in exchange for the chance of learning about something that makes the object even more attractive, thus being able to attain more joy. Learning more about an object one likes is thus a gamble, or an exchange.

to me, there is nothing wrong with liking the image of an object; we can never really know what an object is like. we see the image all the time. what you base your "knowledge" of an object on is purely what you perceive of that object, never what that object is.

the problem comes when one tries to interact with the object. a less accurate image would lead to one being less able to predict the behaviour of the object. only by being able to predict the behaviour of the object can one can more successfully make it behave in a way that one would want it to behave. interacting with an object while having an inaccurate image would therefore mean that the object is unlikely to behave in a way one wants it to behave.

therefore, if one is able to attain joy simply with the current knowledge of the object, it may not be worth it to learn more about the object. however, if one can only attain joy from certain behaviour from that object, then it is important for one to attempt to acquire as much knowledge about the object as possible, and hence be able to more successfully invoke the desired behaviour from the object.

i suppose people are assuming that one can attain much more joy from interaction with the object than purely the "knowledge" of it. yet, this may not always be true. learning more isn't always a good thing.