Engineering Happiness
How to open up space for something we all want but rarely get
If we step back for a moment from the seeming exigencies of our daily lives, we can notice a very odd thing: despite being wrapped in convenience, comfort, and abundance beyond the dreams of any Emperor or Queen even as recently as a century ago, most people aren’t happy. Indeed, there’s a case to be made that we’re actually less happy today in our plentitude than were our grandparents in their relative hardship.
Why is this? And what, if anything, can we choose to do about it?
Let’s begin with a brief glance at some of the many things for which we should in theory be overwhelmed with gratitude. Despite the irresponsibility of doctors over-prescribing them for decades and farmers over-using them even now, we still have (some) functional antibiotics that turn accidental cuts and wounds into annoyances rather than a potential death-sentence. We have vaccines that have removed the horrors of polio, smallpox, and many other viral threats.
Most people in the developed world have shelter that keeps them relatively insulated from the elements. Few of us ever go to sleep fearing that a predator will stealthily carry off one of our small children in the night. With the notable exception of the USA, which remains forever unable to change…
