Jonathan Rottenberg

There's a funeral.

Everyone comes together.

They do not feel good, but they mark this as an important moment where I have to figure out who am I

And how will I continue without this person in my life?

And I think everyone would see that grief is a natural process, an inevitable process.

It's a cross-cultural process.

It's even observed in other species.

And it, again, like depression, is very unpleasant.

It's a very difficult state.

So

Nature is not optimized for our happiness.

Nature really cares more that we survive and reproduce than that we experience joy.

My depression actually fits some of these parameters in that I had invested so much in this life plan to become a historian.

And that I think I sensed that I was going to have difficulty getting a job as a historian.

And my body was...

kind of saying, you're not going to pursue this.

And so I was forced to stop and reconsider kind of against my will and come up with a new life plan, which was not an easy process at all, but did ultimately put me on a path towards a more viable future for myself.

I completely agree with that.

What's already happened is spilled milk.

From the perspective of evolution, it doesn't matter.