tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15005476.post1478362054853043884..comments2023-10-10T08:02:18.073-04:00Comments on Rationally Speaking: Podcast Double-Teaser: The Science and Philosophy of Happiness AND Evidence-based philanthropyUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15005476.post-69497816648724117642011-12-18T13:04:24.375-05:002011-12-18T13:04:24.375-05:00John,
the teasers don't usually link to the a...John,<br /><br />the teasers don't usually link to the actual episodes, only the after-taping summaries do. However, the full list of podcasts with links is available on this page, just click on the "Podcast" tab at the top.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09099460671669064269noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15005476.post-55765753606089739452011-06-11T13:16:50.113-04:002011-06-11T13:16:50.113-04:00Love your new term 'evidence-based philanthrop...Love your new term 'evidence-based philanthropy'. I'm totally using that.Lukehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12968634190280933116noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15005476.post-43876164294616594392011-06-10T23:02:04.438-04:002011-06-10T23:02:04.438-04:00I would be interested in hearing about how various...I would be interested in hearing about how various cultures have defined happiness differently over time and what factors influence the way a certain culture defines happiness. For example, has any research been done into the correlations between certain views of happiness and other sociocultural factors?WAChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10557780977764131022noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15005476.post-44829726901705359632011-06-06T22:59:18.778-04:002011-06-06T22:59:18.778-04:00Considering that there seems to be some "happ...Considering that there seems to be some "happiness baseline" which our brains revert to after becoming accustom to a novel experience AND that there seems to be a correlation between reward uncertainty and dopamine levels (where a 50/50 prospect gives us far greater motivation and short term "happiness" than does a 100% guarantee of reward), do you suppose we could keep our "happiness levels" raised above the baseline by constantly pursuing new goals of moderate risk? Is happiness as simple as learning and experiencing new things?Alex Federicihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05280925662154406163noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15005476.post-68873819096504131382011-06-06T13:24:28.815-04:002011-06-06T13:24:28.815-04:00I recently listened to an interesting podcast epis...I recently listened to an interesting podcast episode on the effectiveness of micro finance. Hope this helps.<br /><br />http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2011/04/munger_on_micro.htmlAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15005476.post-91873972528224979002011-06-05T22:45:57.680-04:002011-06-05T22:45:57.680-04:00Regarding the Mill quote, how much does self justi...Regarding the Mill quote, how much does self justification and cognitive dissonance play into measurements of happiness? Do people tend to say they're happy because they'd rather convince themselves they're happy than admit they're unhappy?<br />Have there been any studies on happiness that try to "prime" the subject with something they agree or disagree with? Such as "Given X, how happy are you?", where X might be "Obama is in office", or "Palin is gaining popularity", etc.Erichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16056166353550626776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15005476.post-21807690580762691322011-06-05T11:46:30.693-04:002011-06-05T11:46:30.693-04:00Very much looking forward to the optimized philant...Very much looking forward to the optimized philanthropy podcast - sounds fantastic. I'd love for Holden to go into as much detail as possible for the format about how Givewell makes one charity's actions commensurable with another's so that you are comparing apples to apples; e.g., how to compare a charity that works toward better quality of life with one that is supposed to save lives?<br /><br />Also, LessWrong has some wonderful articles on this topic:<br /><a href="http://lesswrong.com/lw/3gj/efficient_charity_do_unto_others/" rel="nofollow">Efficient Charity: Do Unto Others"</a> by Yvain<br /><a href="http://lesswrong.com/lw/37f/efficient_charity/" rel="nofollow">Efficient Charity</a> by multifoliateroseianpollockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15579140807988796286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15005476.post-49518345712086833382011-06-04T19:04:23.147-04:002011-06-04T19:04:23.147-04:00I wonder if it's possible to reset that base &...I wonder if it's possible to reset that base "happiness level" for people who are set so low that they might be characterized as "miserable"? And how does depression figure into this? Are people who become depressed more likely to be the ones that have a lower base point such that they don't have as far to go to be pushed into depression as a person with a higher base point? So what sets this base in the first place?Coryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01441788487288631828noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15005476.post-13229806048707659542011-06-04T15:45:00.950-04:002011-06-04T15:45:00.950-04:00I would be very interested to hear your thoughts o...I would be very interested to hear your thoughts on Pascal Bruckner's view of modern day happiness which, according to him, leads to so much angst.Mr GreenJeanshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06991579024138395433noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15005476.post-39596399116474316492011-06-04T12:36:42.827-04:002011-06-04T12:36:42.827-04:00>“It is better to be a human being dissatisfied...>“It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied.<<br />As if we had a choice to be either a pig or Socrates, since it's the nature of a human (and probably a pig as well) to be dissatisfied, and especially one whose curiosity approaches that of Socrates. Who I suspect was happily dissatisfied.Baron Phttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04138430918331887648noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15005476.post-41499593427998894102011-06-04T11:41:47.594-04:002011-06-04T11:41:47.594-04:00I'm intrigued. I do hope you'll start by ...I'm intrigued. I do hope you'll start by clearly defining what happiness is though. I get a lot of different answers to the question of what happiness is. How do you measure happiness anyway? Is it entirely subjective, or is there some objective means by which you can at least compare levels of happiness? As always, I look forward to the podcast.John Michael Strubharthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06489463665193001043noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15005476.post-41587902039429898322011-06-04T09:46:25.315-04:002011-06-04T09:46:25.315-04:00Re evidence-based philanthropy:
I know nothing ab...Re evidence-based philanthropy:<br /><br />I know nothing about Givewell but the idea sounds great to me. A couple of questions from my completely uninformed perspective:<br /> * How would this relate to the principle of giving to those areas that are under-represented by existing donations?<br /> * Could this allow for supporting research that has delivered nothing yet but that might lead to huge pay-offs for humanity?<br /><br />These questions were triggered by a BBC piece about a hedge fund millionaire who gave £20 million to the Cavendish Laboratory:<br />http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00wh736<br />Currently still available to listen here:<br />http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio3/r3arts/r3arts_20101230-1230a.mp3GoogleGhosthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03452973752684689243noreply@blogger.com