p. 3
“

We offset the pursuit of our well-being with notions of altruism, and temper our happiness with feelings of guilt. In the vernacular of pop psychology, we speak of being ‘self-alienated’ people who have learned to reject our very selves. Whatever other advantages flow to us from our institutionalized world, the personal disadvantages carry a prohibitive price tag.

— Butler D. Shaffer

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "We offset the pursuit of our well-being with notions of altruism, and temper our happiness with feelings of guilt. In the vernacular of pop psychology, we speak of being ‘self-alienated’ people who have learned to reject our very selves. Whatever other advantages flow to us from our institutionalized world, the personal disadvantages carry a prohibitive price tag." in the context of "p. 3" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

Source: Wikiquote: "Butler D. Shaffer" (Calculated Chaos: Institutional Threats to Peace and Human Survival (1985): San Francisco, CA, Alchemy Books, 1985) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Butler D. Shaffer

About Butler D. Shaffer

Butler D. Shaffer (January 12, 1935 – December 29, 2019) was an American author, law professor and speaker, known for his numerous libertarian books and blog articles for LewRockwell.com.