[anon-3988]

Humans are simply NOT designed to _be_ happy, we are designed to _search_ for happiness.

Any genes that makes us totally content have been wiped out by millions of years of evolution. We will never simply "be happy". Happiness will always be just around the corner. Any sense of happiness, fulfillment or content that you have ever felt are all bait and lure created by the mind so that you remember to desire for more.

I understand the article talks about more than that. However, to me, the fact that people is not happy is not particularly interesting.

OT: I think the cause of the wealth gap is much simpler. It is the stock market. I imagine a society where there is no stock market, but instead everyone invest in their local economies. We would probably be growing much slower, but who cares?

[belviewreview]

"Humans are simply NOT designed to _be_ happy, we are designed to _search_ for happiness."

If that were true, then all humans and the people in all cultures would be equally unhappy. And everyone would be equally unhappy all the time. But they are not, partly because of people's expectation levels.

[solarkraft]

That assumes that the cultures have similar conditions for striving towards happiness. I would not say this is the case, both for economic and idealistic reasons.

[sph]

In what paradise do you live in? On average, people are equally unhappy. Why do you think there’s a saying that ‘money doesn’t buy happiness’? You could be rich, you could be poor, you could be healthy, you could be a cripple, you’ll still feel meh, on average, about the whole life business.

Happiness is an extreme, like sadness is another. You dip into those states for a bit, the homeostasis returns you to the middle. Now, we could discuss if anyone is content or not. The West sells happiness, the East tried to teach contentment. They are very different things.

[Balinares]

Presumably they're from one of the happy countries that you believe don't exist. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Happiness_Report

[deterministic]

> money doesn’t buy happiness

Not true. Money does buy happiness up to a point. Going from sleeping in the streets to having a place to stay, food, security, and medical services makes a big happiness difference.

However once the basics are there, additional money makes less of a difference (but not 0).

[CrimsonCape]

> OT: I think the cause of the wealth gap is much simpler. It is the stock market. I imagine a society where there is no stock market, but instead everyone invest in their local economies. We would probably be growing much slower, but who cares?

In our real-world Matrix, in which we are all part of Keynesian economics, you just took the red pill and discovered the existence of Austrian economics (and the stranglehold that Keynesians have over the world and anybody who proports to be an Austrian)

You are discovering that at some past point the USA was distorted to become the host for the biggest Keynesian economic experiment ever. I'm not even sure how it was even foisted upon people with such little regard. Is there any surprise that in a Keynesian system nobody ever feels fulfilled or happy? The whole point of the system is that constant growth and inflation are necessary parts of economics. You literally have to keep your wealth flowing in market ventures. Who's going to have time to stop and use wealth to improve cities and communities (unless it's part of business venture)?

There's one word I use and hope everyone learns: 'siesta'. A culture that has siesta cannot co-exist with a culture that does not. These are just different words for 'a Keynesian economic system cannot co-exist with an Austrian system.'

[toomuchtodo]

https://denmark.dk/people-and-culture/happiness/

https://www.adamsmith.org/blog/why-the-danes-are-the-happies...

https://www.weforum.org/stories/2018/03/why-denmark-dominate...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hygge