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Your Work Habits and the Happiness Treadmill
- ars 17y agoHe raised interesting questions, but mostly forgot to also supply answers.
- joe_the_user 17y agoIt's certainly documented that people have a short-term bias in their happiness choices. However ... I started to listen to tunes on my machine about two months ago and I think I can look back on those two months and say I've been happier and more productive during that time. There are times to turn off the tunes - I never walk around with headphones - but music is cool and the article's argument about lottery tickets won't change that.
- noonespecial 17y agoMusic is actually a terrible example because it has qualities that change mood and percetion all by itself. Its effecs also vary so widely for individuals as to make comparisons nearly meaningless.
- philwelch 17y agoFor individuals? Hell, they vary widely over time as well.
- joe_the_user 17y agoThe question of hedonic bias is more complex than the article indicates. I would recommend Game Theory Evolving by Herbert Gintis. Gintis talks about human short-term bias and hyperbolic discounting and shows that this is often not as "irrational" as it seems (look especially at Chapter 11). Still it's a great discussion, I'd love to see it much more developed, hopefully the article's author reads here.