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It seems fundamental to the human condition that working on something (whether mastering the creation of artistic work, building businesses, becoming an amazing

It seems fundamental to the human condition that working on something (whether mastering the creation of artistic work, building businesses, becoming an amazing teacher, literally any productive use of time) is what drives true happiness. Once a society largely moves beyond Maslow's hierarchy, the ability to productively work on something of your choosing, whether as your main job or as a hobby/side gig is what brings passion and meaning to life. Being paid in some way for this work is one way for people to support the creator/teacher/builder. This will add to economic activity and continue to grow the economic pie. No one looks back on their life and wishes they spent more time laying on the couch. So while economic productivity/growth is a crude measure for sure, it might be the best one we've found so far.

Gormo 4y ago
I'm not sure it's ever appropriate to speculate on what elements of life drive happiness for other people. Everything everyone does is by definition in pursuit of satisfying some internal motivation, and it doesn't seem reasonable to me to second-guess other people's choices for the purpose of optimizing their happiness against external criteria -- only for the purpose of preventing externalities that harm our own pursuit of happiness. Attempting to create macro-scale metrics that attempt to approximate the optimality of of individuals' subjective experience, rather than measuring objective consequences of their manifest behavior -- like their actual economic activity -- seems both too abstract to be useful and too susceptible to manipulation by those with ulterior motives. So I agree that economic productivity is the best measure, but for quite different reasons.
bandyaboot 4y ago
> No one looks back on their life and wishes they spent more time laying on the couch. Clearly true. Now, how many people look back on their life and wish they had spent more time building their business rather than spending time with family, friends, etc? Even more fundamental to the human condition is our social nature. Living a life that prioritizes that is what drives true happiness.
- csdvrx 4y ago
  > Now, how many people look back on their life and wish they had spent more time building their business rather than spending time with family, friends, etc? I do. Most of the "social time" has been wasted: some projects I did each bring me more lasting happiness that even all the time spent with family and friends put together.
  - bandyaboot 4y ago
    I wouldn’t expect the number to be zero, but I expect it’s a small percentage. I also expect the number to decrease with age.
csdvrx 4y ago
> No one looks back on their life and wishes they spent more time laying on the couch. This is one of the most insightful comments I've read for a while, and this one liner perfectly summarize your reply.
ativzzz 4y ago
> working on something... is what drives true happiness Couldn't disagree more. The most joyous time in the past few years has been when I took half a year off work and pretty much spent it playing video games or hanging out with my wife. In fact the joyous times in my life have been when I have no responsibilities and can just get drunk with my friends. Unfortunately the best way to meet good, fun people is to be involved with some kind of productive activity, but as we get older none of us have time for each other anyway. I hate responsibility and I somewhat hate being productive because once other people see you're capable, they start expecting more of you, and that's the last thing I want
int_19h 4y ago
I know of many people who wish they spent more time laying on the couch. I think you're making the mistake of assuming that your personal / bubble / society cultural preferences are universal.

Gormo 4y ago

I'm not sure it's ever appropriate to speculate on what elements of life drive happiness for other people. Everything everyone does is by definition in pursuit of satisfying some internal motivation, and it doesn't seem reasonable to me to second-guess other people's choices for the purpose of optimizing their happiness against external criteria -- only for the purpose of preventing externalities that harm our own pursuit of happiness. Attempting to create macro-scale metrics that attempt to approximate the optimality of of individuals' subjective experience, rather than measuring objective consequences of their manifest behavior -- like their actual economic activity -- seems both too abstract to be useful and too susceptible to manipulation by those with ulterior motives. So I agree that economic productivity is the best measure, but for quite different reasons.

bandyaboot 4y ago

> No one looks back on their life and wishes they spent more time laying on the couch. Clearly true. Now, how many people look back on their life and wish they had spent more time building their business rather than spending time with family, friends, etc? Even more fundamental to the human condition is our social nature. Living a life that prioritizes that is what drives true happiness.

csdvrx 4y ago
> Now, how many people look back on their life and wish they had spent more time building their business rather than spending time with family, friends, etc? I do. Most of the "social time" has been wasted: some projects I did each bring me more lasting happiness that even all the time spent with family and friends put together.
- bandyaboot 4y ago
  I wouldn’t expect the number to be zero, but I expect it’s a small percentage. I also expect the number to decrease with age.

csdvrx 4y ago

> No one looks back on their life and wishes they spent more time laying on the couch. This is one of the most insightful comments I've read for a while, and this one liner perfectly summarize your reply.

ativzzz 4y ago

> working on something... is what drives true happiness Couldn't disagree more. The most joyous time in the past few years has been when I took half a year off work and pretty much spent it playing video games or hanging out with my wife. In fact the joyous times in my life have been when I have no responsibilities and can just get drunk with my friends. Unfortunately the best way to meet good, fun people is to be involved with some kind of productive activity, but as we get older none of us have time for each other anyway. I hate responsibility and I somewhat hate being productive because once other people see you're capable, they start expecting more of you, and that's the last thing I want

int_19h 4y ago

I know of many people who wish they spent more time laying on the couch. I think you're making the mistake of assuming that your personal / bubble / society cultural preferences are universal.