[bensyverson]

Oh, absolutely. 99.999% of human history has been "just want to survive another year."

Russ Harris has a great book about this called The Happiness Trap [0], which is an introduction to ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy)

[0]: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/76053/the-happiness...

[tim333]

Dunno. Traveling to less developed places parents still want the kids to be happy for a start. It's surprising in places without roads, internet, phones etc. how normal everything is.

[bensyverson]

It's normal for parents to want their kids to be happy… it's less normal for those kids to be "happy" all the time.