I got an email asking me to take part in a survey about "what brings you happiness?" The survey is at http://www.angelfire.com/jazz/sm840817/index.html.
I strongly suspect that some of the participents haven't been taking the survey entirely seriously. The current results are:
Re:happiness
darobin on 2003-01-06T14:02:35
Really? I voted for the option that happens to be the most popular, and I feel rather happy these days...
<g>Re:happiness
Magnus on 2003-01-06T16:47:06
Let's overlay the results on Maslow's hierarchy of needs. The categories don't fit perfectly, but tell a sad story in any case.
- Spiritual: 0% God, 0% Personal beliefs/religion
- Self Actualization: 0% Successful life
- Ego Needs/Social Needs: 0% Relationships
- Security Needs: 26% Money/wealth
- Body Needs: 72% Physical pleasure/drugs/alcohol/sex
So the majority of people sampled still think in primitive levels in terms of what makes them happy.Re:happiness
davorg on 2003-01-06T16:58:58
So the majority of people sampled still think in primitive levels in terms of what makes them happy.Actually I don't really see a problem with that
:) But honestly, what's really happened here is that someone (not me!) has seen that the poll doesn't take the simplest of steps to prevent ballot stuffing and has written a script to effect the results for a laugh.
In fact, I got a follow-up email from the owner of the poll saying the the results had been "hacked" so he had reset the totals and please could I vote again.
Re:happiness
darobin on 2003-01-06T17:42:16
Not to start a philosophico-moral debate here, but I'm not entirely convinced by that hierarchy. Or rather, by the need for a hierarchy. However, accepting it as such for the sake of discussion I still see no reason to see a sad story. You seem to be making an implicit statement that the hierarchy is walked up or something, while there is no reason that you couldn't address each of these points in random order.
Taking myself (because I know myself better than I do the anonymous pollees) as an example:
- spiritual: being an atheism fundamentalist, I don't worry much about God or religion. I do care about poetry and music though, however I have solid footing there and don't worry about having "more" of it. It's not quantitative.
- self-actualisation and a social life (bundled because separating them is a complete fallacy): lots of it, every day, almost without ever needing to think about it.
- security need: well I could use a little more, but I'm fine.
- Sex and alcohol: well, it's not that I don't get those, it's just that I can always use more
:) As a result, that is what I am most frequently found wanting, and thus what makes me happy most often, QED. I don't see what's wrong with that answer, and certainly not what's sad there.
