A thread through the archive
Essays tagged “happiness”. Follow an idea across the archive.
Scott defends his argument that economic growth significantly increases happiness against Pritchard's critique, arguing she underestimates income effects and overestimates redistribution's potential while misunderstanding liberalism's respect for individual agency.
Scott explains the Buddhist claim that 'life is suffering' through a temperature analogy: just as cold is merely the absence of heat, joy is merely less suffering, with nirvana being 'absolute zero suffering' rather than a neutral state.
Scott Alexander explores various commenters' insights on the neuroscience of reward, happiness, and relationships, expanding on his original post about unpredictable rewards.
Scott examines two types of happiness - one affected by predictability and one that persists - through various examples and neuroscientific concepts.
Scott Alexander summarizes and responds to comments on his review of 'What We Owe The Future', addressing debates around population ethics, longtermism, and moral philosophy.
The post explores how correlated variables can diverge at extreme values, applying this concept to happiness measures and moral systems.
Scott Alexander examines the relationship between economic development, social changes, and happiness, concluding that happiness levels can change over time but are more influenced by intangible factors than by economic growth.
Scott Alexander surveys people's preferences between suffering and oblivion, finding split opinions and weak correlations between different scenarios and real-world beliefs.
Scott Alexander examines the paradox of economic growth not increasing happiness in developing countries, questioning the moral implications for global development efforts.
Scott Alexander argues that depression and suicide rates are not reliable indicators of societal well-being, critiquing simplistic interpretations of mental health statistics in social comparisons.
Scott Alexander bids farewell to California's Bay Area, praising its culture and the rationalist community while offering heartfelt tributes to friends who influenced him.