Somebody shoot me!!
Will Wilkinson is investing heavily in 'Happiness research', and approvingly cites Alex Singleton for making the Misesian point that:
Far from being a major problem, there is something virtuous about being unhappy with our present circumstances.
Indeed it is uneasiness with our present situation that motivates us to act. If we were happy, we'd have no need for action.
I remembered reading something Kurt Vonnegut wrote about people actually wanting to die during peak experiences. He described a piano player during a great performance, screaming "Quick, somebody shoot me while I'm happy!!" As bizarre as it sounds, this all suddenly made sense.
Apparently that pianist was Fats Waller, but it's somewhat mythical.
This graphic demonstrating that material wealth is correlated to happiness, but there's one country that really stands out - Finland. Interestingly, students have pointed out to me that Finland has a high suicide rate (although it seems this is falling). I usually debunk happiness research by either pointing to evidence that material wealth improves subjective perceptions of happiness, or challenging the methodoligical foundation - but this deeper, philosophical point is also worth considering: what would a world look like where people had no uneasiness?
Comments