Happy is as happy does. A conversation about happiness.
Details
There are times in some peoples' lives when happiness seems to be the norm, while others find their own happiness to be elusive. Tonight we will be discussing the nature of happiness and how it fits into our lives and influences our society.
- Do you agree with Ms Romano, my grade 9 English teacher, who claimed, "Happiness is a philosophy of life"? Why or why not?
- Do you agree with J.S. Mill who proclaimed, “Happiness is the sole end of human action.”? Why or why not?
- Do you agree with Friedrich Nietzsche who said, "Man does not strive for happiness, only the Englishman does.”? Why or why not?
- Studies show that places where everybody is about equally poor are happier than those where both income and inequality are higher. Is happiness about keeping up with the Joneses? Why or why not?
- People in individualistic (eg Western) societies report higher levels of happiness than people in collectivistic (eg East Asian) ones, beyond what can be explained by socioeconomic factors. Do you agree? Why or why not?
- Is there a difference between being happy and feeling happy?
- What, to you, are the differences between the many words we use to describe a positive emotional state: happiness vs joy vs bliss vs ecstasy vs contentment?
- Are you happy right at this moment? How would you characterize your week/month/year? How does the time-frame influence your judgement?
- What was the happiest moment of your life? Was it all downhill from there?
- Which would you choose: a life of high peaks and deep troughs, or a relatively neutral and uneventful emotional state?
- How can we compare the level of happiness of different people in similar circumstances?
- Do you believe that the average child happier than the average adult? Why or why not?
- Do you see the possibility of an objective measure of happiness, along the lines of a brain scan? Why or why not?
- SOMA™ is the blockbuster pharmaceutical of 2031: it makes people happier without known significant side-effects. Will you take it? Should it be added to the water supply? Why or why not?
- Is happiness a choice? If so, how and why? If not, why not?
- What, if anything, is the "key ingredient" in happiness? Why?
- Can animals be happy in the same way as humans?
- Are people nowadays happier than in the past?
- A SF Fed study found that in the 1970s, women reported being significantly happier than men, a gap that has since vanished. Why do you think that happened?
- Is happiness the goal or is it the journey? Why?
BONUS QUESTIONS! - How would the world be a better place if more people were happy?
- Is happiness a function of prosperity? Why or why not?
- What can you as an individual do to make your life more happy?
- What can you as an individual do to make the lives or others more happy?
- What can we as a society do to increase our collective happiness?
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Given the success of this format we are going to be continuing to gather via Zoom.
We will be allowing up to 30 participants for this meeting and, after a brief introduction, we will be splitting off into virtual "tables" of six.
As long as you have RSVP'd before 5:30PM on the day of the event you should receive an email from Robert or Josh prior to 6:30PM giving you the Zoom meetup credentials.
*** PLEASE NOTE ***
If you are a member of Table Conversations and you didn't receive an email announcing THIS Table Conversations meetup then you likely won't receive the email with the Zoom information on the evening of the event. Please confirm that your Meetup.com profile is configured correctly by carefully following the step-by-step instructions in this link: https://www.meetup.com/tableconversations/events/270360456/
Otherwise, since I don't control Meetup's mail system, if you are not receiving notifications please contact Meetup.com for assistance.
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* Room opens at 6:45PM (often earlier) for socialization
* Discussion starts at 7:15 and finishes at 8:45ish
* Keep talking until dawn!
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