Skip to main content

Happiness Report

I read about recent UN sponsored World Happiness Report 2013. Happiness is hard to measure. As an emotion it is transient. As a measure of one's feeling about the general level of happiness with one's life as a whole, it is more stable. Bhutan was the first country that promoted the idea of setting country's policies with the intent to raise the index of happiness of its people.

John Stuart Mill, an English Pholosopher in 1800s said "“It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied." I take it from this statement that Mill means that somehow being "Socrates" is more wholesome than being fat, dumb, and always happy. The fool might disagree with this.

Only the person who is evaluated can say whether he is happy with his life. Of course, his criteria depends on his own values and character.

The level of happiness of an individual is not entirely in the individual's control. The lack of physical security and corruption in the society can be the major sources of unhappiness to all the individuals. There is no denying that material wealth plays a huge importance in a person's happiness but that is not the only factor, may not even be the main factor. Mental health/illness is a very important factor. 

The report's purpose is to drive the countries to adopt policies that elevate this level of happiness. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Biography of Sri Hiriannaiah

I read the following biography of Sri Hiriannaiah at http://rajchat.info/vasudeva_kutumbukam/7_two_exemplary_officerst.html. Sri Hiriannaiah also belonged to Bobburkamme sect and most probably our family is related to his family, exactly how I don't know but may learn in the future. What was interesting is the propensity of descendants of Sri Kalappa to pursue law and serve in justice profession. The entire biography is copied from the above source. " Sakleshpur Hirianniah (S. Hirianniah for short) was born on 24th of June 1877 in Sakleshpura which is a taluq headquarters town in Hassan district. The taluq is situated in the high mountainous area of the Western Ghats, The mountains are covered by tropical forests where grow teakwood, rosewood, sandalwood and other tropical trees, and there is very heavy rain during the monsoon months. The ground under the trees are covered by all sorts of plants and creepers an...
12 comments
Read more

My MOOC Progress

I finished my first MOOC course "Introduction to Mathematical Thinking" taught by Keith Devlin of Stanford, an outstanding professor. It was a tough course! I am almost half done with "Introduction to Genetics and Evolution" taught Mohammed Noor, another outstanding professor from Duke. I have already learned a great deal from this course. This is a tough course too. Believe it or not, I have signed up another 16 MOOCs! Within a month, three courses will be starting; Think Again: How to Reason and Argue , Introduction to Astronomy , Drugs and the Brain .  The New York Times called 2012, the year of the MOOCs, see http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/04/education/edlife/massive-open-online-courses-are-multiplying-at-a-rapid-pace.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&.
Post a Comment
Read more

401K, 403B Rollover into an IRA

I am trying to gather info on the IRA rollover. I am piecing together info I found on the web. 1. Can I Use an IRA Rollover to Move Funds Out of My Company Retirement Plan While I Still Work There? Probably not. Most company retirement plans do not allow you to roll funds out of the plan while you are still employed. To find out if they do, you can call your plan sponsor, and ask if they allow what is called an "in-service distribution". Does AT&T allow? Does TIAA/CREF allow? An in-service distribution is a different type of transaction than a loan or hardship withdrawal. An in-service distribution is a transaction where you can rollover a portion of funds in your plan into a self-directed IRA account while you are still employed. Only some plans allow this. No Longer Employed Once you are no longer employed, it may make sense to roll funds from your plan into an IRA account. At that time, to avoid tax withholding, you'll want to choo...
Post a Comment
Read more