It is hard to be happy

Recognizing the hedonic treadmill and seeing the miracles around us (with some repetition)

Our genes very much don’t want [sic] us to be happy. Our brains want to pursue happiness but never achieve it for more than a fleeting moment.

Our family doesn’t want us to be happy. Society doesn’t want us to be happy. (See the “Fight the Power” chapters here.)

My hope is that perspective can increase our happiness.

Perspective

When I was in high school, I was limited to whatever was on one of the three TV channels at the moment, at the movie theater at that moment, what records I owned or songs were on the radio, and what books I could borrow from my cow-town's library. If I wanted any information, I had to go to that small library and hope.

I had a cheap plastic camera for which I would have to buy film and pay for processing. Our family of five had one phone; calling anyone outside of our little town cost a lot of money. Depositing money involved going to a bank when they were open; investing was a savings account; loans were whatever they would give you. Shopping involved driving to KMart or Kroger.

No GPS, no maps outside of a huge paper atlas, no weather forecast outside the evening news (and then it was not accurate compared to today). Certainly no weather info for other locations.

Is that magic in your pocket?

I could (and do) go on. Below is a list of what is in my pocket at this moment. It would have been literally unbelievable to Young Matt. “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic” indeed:

1. Internet

2. Phone / chat with anyone anywhere

3. Global video chat

4. Calculator / spreadsheet

5. Voice recognition for everything

6. Voice recorder / tape recorder

7. Word processor / notepad

8. Watch / stopwatch / timer / alarm clock

9. Calendar (including alerts)

10. GPS & compass & maps & local guide (never get lost)

11. Location tracker & ability to share location

12. Personal weather station / meteorologist for anywhere in the world

13. Arcade (OK, I don't have any games on mine) (never get bored)

14. Pretty much all of human knowledge and a way to summarize it (beyond the imagination of, say, Bill Clinton when he was President) (Really, can how crazy this is be overstated?)

15. Flashlight

16. Personal assistant

17. Pretty much any song I'd ever want

18. Global radio

19. Podcasts

20. TV & DVR

21. TV / countless movies and TV shows

22. Countless books (including resources from many library systems)

23. Countless magazines

24. Document scanner with

25. Incredible camera

26. Photoshop / "AI" image manipulation

27. Videoconferencing

28. Video camera

29. Video production

30. Song recognition

31. Audio processing / music creation

32. Banking & investments (including check deposit)

33. Any of my credit cards (that I want to have on there)

34. Boarding passes

35. Visas

36. Keys

37. Remote controls

38. Personal taxi service

39. Fitbit / AllTrails

40. Mirror

41. Thermometer

42. Medical information and advice (including meeting with Nurse Practitioner)

43. Fix-it videos for anything

44. Latest news from your "friends"

45. A community that shares any interest (e.g., Reddit)

46. A global shopping mall (I ordered an excellent and inexpensive carbon-fiber case for this phone from overseas, and it was here in a week) (Really, can how crazy this is be overstated?)

47. Imperfect but near-universal translator of text, scans / photos, audio / conversations, and video

And yet, nearly everyone takes nearly all of this for granted. Our lives are negatively impacted by constant access to bad news and "social" media, but not positively impacted by the miracles all around us.

I am not saying, "Everyone is stupid except me." This is just a note on how natural selection has programmed our brains. We live on the hedonic treadmill, where we acclimate to anything good and always always always want more.

50 Years (repeating)

If you were a kid in 1920*, you got around by horse and buggy and had probably never seen an airplane. Fifty years later, the Concord was taking people across the Atlantic at twice the speed of sound, and you had watched people walk on the Moon.

But in terms of changing what it was like to be a kid, the last 50 years are unparalleled.

In 1975, I could only watch whatever was on one of three channels at that moment (Laverne & Shirley, Happy Days, Welcome Back Kotter, Sonny & Cher). I could only watch whatever movie was at the local theater. I was limited to the books on my shelf or at the small local library (I read and re-read The Hardy Boys). You had whatever music your parents had on vinyl or was playing on the radio at the moment (there really wasn't any non-easy-listening music in my house). I had no camera. I had never heard of a “computer.” I didn't know anything about anything (other countries, other races, atheism, vegetarianism, homosexuality, you name it). My window on the world was the Brady Bunch. (I hadn't yet been allowed to watch M*A*S*H.) If I wanted to learn anything not taught at my shitty Catholic school, I was SOL. The only smart kid I knew had been skipped out of my grade and then moved away; I wouldn't meet another smart person for ten years.

It is basically impossible to wrap our heads around how different it is today. Today, a smart kid can learn about any topic they want, watch just about any movie or TV show, listen to any song, or read any book ... at any moment. They can find any community based on any identity or interest. They can “hang out” with anyone, anywhere in the world.

And air conditioning. Holy chicken - what a benefit!

It is not all utopian, of course; hatred and ignorance and doomism are very prevalent. All the advances and advantages are taken for granted. But on balance, I'd much rather be a (smart) kid today than in 1975. (I can't imagine I'd be less happy than I was.)

Again: Saying with gratitude, not bitterness. 😎

*101 years ago, while he was President and arguably the most powerful person in the world, Calvin Coolidge watched his son die from a small blister on his toe. JFC.