Most agree that health is better than sickness, abundance is better than poverty, and peace is better than war. But many now point to a fundamental problem. Despite better access to healthcare, education, and more disposable income, cases of depression have increased by over 50% worldwide since 1997. Research shows that richer countries have higher rates of anxiety than poorer ones, whilst happiness has been declining across the board in the most developed countries for more than a decade. And recent studies from Stanford University demonstrate that too much comfort in the short term could lead to pain in the longer term.Should we give up the view that life is simply about aiming for positive experience and comfort and instead see struggle and well-being as two sides of the same coin? Should we abandon the central claim of government policy that better living standards lead to greater well-being? Or would this be a dangerous move that would threaten the progress made in the past few centuries and irrevocably change the character of our culture?

  • insomniac_lemon@kbin.social
    1·
    1 year ago

    From a US perspective, much of this seems like a false premise. Money isn’t everything, but I think it takes ignoring or misrepresenting a lot of factors to say that most people are better off economically. On the other side, having $0 means a lot less when you live somewhere where money is a lot less important/required.

    Do we haVe tOo mUcH CoMfORt?

    Depressed people? No. Even things that might look like comfort (more likely ineffective escapism) are often a result of conditions rather than a cause of them. Lack of purpose/belonging/community, also lacking money and transportation (rural/car-centric esp.) and lack of third-places. Really just lacking prosperity and viable autonomy in general.

    Also healthcare access in the US is not great (even worse adding in other factors) and mental healthcare is even a problem outside of the US. Unless I’m in a different timeline?

    That said, I would say that a lot of factors here are how societies are structured rather than purely personal failings. Or: some modern things have been a disaster even if they generate a lot of money.

    EDIT: Some of these points are actually raised in the video, especially by Anna Lembke after the half-way point. So the framing of the video seems a bit odd/clickbait-y. Well… I just noticed it says Yaron is “at the helm of the Ayn Rand institute”, so it makes more sense now.