Is it wealth? Is it things owned? Is the happiness a serial hoarder feels when they get a new thing the same as the happiness of seeing your first child born?
I’m starting to think we’ve gone too far when it comes to validating feelings.
I guess you just ask someone how happy they are in general.
Edit: I found the study (see my other response) and they used this:
To assess life satisfaction, respondents were asked, “All things considered, how satisfied are you with your life as a whole these days?” They were asked to indicate their satisfaction with life using an 11-point scale ranging from 0 (dissatisfied) to 10 (satisfied). This measure has been shown to have appropriate external validity and has been widely used in cross-cultural studies of life satisfaction
You have a society that really likes ultra processed food. I mean really likes ultra processed food, to the point of addiction. There are other things that society is addicted to, but we’ll fixate on food for now.
Let’s say you take ultra processed food away from that society. Or any other harmful addictive thing. What do you think happens to their overall satisfaction in life?
It is the objectively correct decision (at least before enough regulations are put in place that ‘ultra processed’ doesn’t also mean ‘packed with chemicals’). Let’s say you assess life satisfaction after an event like this. What would their answers be? Would they be true or would they just be the thrashings of addicts?
My point is that I think if you ask a heroin addict if they’re satisfied with life, their answer will depend on how long it’s been since a needle has gone in their arm. I don’t think the average person is actually capable of guaging their level of satisfaction in life, not to say that the average person is a heroin addict.
I don’t think the average person is actually capable of guaging their level of satisfaction in life
One could argue they’re the only ones who can gauge it.
But there’s definitely a struggle to separate the symptoms of happiness from the conditions of happiness.
Like, if happiness is just a chemical, then OD on it and you’ve successfully maximized the raw score. But if you asked someone in advance if that’s how they want to live their lives, I don’t think you’d get many eager for it.
By what metric do we judge happiness?
Is it wealth? Is it things owned? Is the happiness a serial hoarder feels when they get a new thing the same as the happiness of seeing your first child born?
I’m starting to think we’ve gone too far when it comes to validating feelings.
I guess you just ask someone how happy they are in general.
Edit: I found the study (see my other response) and they used this:
To assess life satisfaction, respondents were asked, “All things considered, how satisfied are you with your life as a whole these days?” They were asked to indicate their satisfaction with life using an 11-point scale ranging from 0 (dissatisfied) to 10 (satisfied). This measure has been shown to have appropriate external validity and has been widely used in cross-cultural studies of life satisfaction
Ok, let me create a separate hypothetical:
You have a society that really likes ultra processed food. I mean really likes ultra processed food, to the point of addiction. There are other things that society is addicted to, but we’ll fixate on food for now.
Let’s say you take ultra processed food away from that society. Or any other harmful addictive thing. What do you think happens to their overall satisfaction in life?
It is the objectively correct decision (at least before enough regulations are put in place that ‘ultra processed’ doesn’t also mean ‘packed with chemicals’). Let’s say you assess life satisfaction after an event like this. What would their answers be? Would they be true or would they just be the thrashings of addicts?
My point is that I think if you ask a heroin addict if they’re satisfied with life, their answer will depend on how long it’s been since a needle has gone in their arm. I don’t think the average person is actually capable of guaging their level of satisfaction in life, not to say that the average person is a heroin addict.
One could argue they’re the only ones who can gauge it.
But there’s definitely a struggle to separate the symptoms of happiness from the conditions of happiness.
Like, if happiness is just a chemical, then OD on it and you’ve successfully maximized the raw score. But if you asked someone in advance if that’s how they want to live their lives, I don’t think you’d get many eager for it.
Good point