5 ms·

Here's how the OECD does it at a country-level. A couple decades ago this probably seemed too hard. Then, it turns out it's not that hard to operationalize well

Here's how the OECD does it at a country-level. A couple decades ago this probably seemed too hard. Then, it turns out it's not that hard to operationalize wellbeing and measure it at scale with statistical confidence. It isn't perfect — the science advances — and that's good. https://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/ https://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/ Companies already invest heavily in the assessment and optimization of employee wellbeing. This is a major industry in HR now, especially during covid. Is it really such a far stretch that a Facebook or Netflix should regularly gather metrics from a subset of customers to understand how their products affect user wellbeing?

tomnipotent 5y ago
After reading up on it, there's nothing about this that builds confidence that it's anything more an indicator of wellbeing than the "MyPlate" USDA guidelines are for dietary requirements.
- dr_dshiv 5y ago
  That's insulting. Please read more: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0011000016633507?journalCode=tcpa https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/001100001663350...
  - tomnipotent 5y ago
    And this is evidence somehow, other than being another research paper in a sea of many? I'm sure there's none of those at the FDA. I mean, the abstract ends with: "Results suggest that there is considerable disagreement regarding how to properly understand and measure well-being." The existence of research does not make something definitive, but I'm always happy to be proven wrong.
    - dr_dshiv 5y ago
      Even basic physical phenomena aren't definitive. That's not how science works. We shouldn't expect a singular metric of wellbeing to rely on for all time. Existing wellbeing measures and models are useful enough to inform practical decision-making and design. What we admittedly lack are measures sensitive enough to indicate when small design improvements are successful. More research needed.

tomnipotent 5y ago

After reading up on it, there's nothing about this that builds confidence that it's anything more an indicator of wellbeing than the "MyPlate" USDA guidelines are for dietary requirements.

dr_dshiv 5y ago
That's insulting. Please read more: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0011000016633507?journalCode=tcpa https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/001100001663350...
- tomnipotent 5y ago
  And this is evidence somehow, other than being another research paper in a sea of many? I'm sure there's none of those at the FDA. I mean, the abstract ends with: "Results suggest that there is considerable disagreement regarding how to properly understand and measure well-being." The existence of research does not make something definitive, but I'm always happy to be proven wrong.
  - dr_dshiv 5y ago
    Even basic physical phenomena aren't definitive. That's not how science works. We shouldn't expect a singular metric of wellbeing to rely on for all time. Existing wellbeing measures and models are useful enough to inform practical decision-making and design. What we admittedly lack are measures sensitive enough to indicate when small design improvements are successful. More research needed.