(04-03-2012, 02:56 PM)Taelas Wrote: Denmark has been called the 'happiest country in the world' on numerous occasions (or at least among the top ones). I lack a filter to tell whether or not this is true--I have lived here all my life. I can say that we have little crime, little corruption, and a mostly robust social welfare system. If that's what you use to define 'happiness', sure. But I wouldn't say that's the only thing that matters.
I know denmark pretty well and I can agree with the fact that it would be a happier palce than for example Sweden.
But you are right, also things like sunshine are very important, or the availabilty of good quality fresh fruit an vegetables (like you have in the south of europe) of course if you are not used to anything else you will probably not see that as a negative.
Probably these lists also have changed with our global economy and the internet and other modern media.....you much easier can become jealous of other countries.
(04-03-2012, 03:20 PM)kandrathe Wrote: As is mentioned in the report I too am swayed by eastern philosophy when it comes to happiness. If you don't set your expectations too high then you won't be disappointed. If you work on removing desires, then you will find yourself to be more content.
I agree a king in the middle ages could be a rich as Bill gates is now, but he could die at the age of 30 from a simple infection. Still he would probably be a happy guy because he was doing so much better than all the other around him.
(04-03-2012, 03:20 PM)kandrathe Wrote: It is interesting, but I feel that happiness is just too squishy to comparably measure.
That is a common criticsim on this report.
So Bhutan, which is organising this conference is implementing this happiness factor as a measure of how the country is doing. I find that very interesting, but of course Bhutan is hardly a country that is of any economic importance in this world. But I like that initiative.
(04-03-2012, 10:51 PM)Taelas Wrote: We also buy new cars, new TVs, new phones, etc. at a rate that is likely comparable to yours, if not worse. In Denmark, at least, it is turning into a bit of a social problem; loans are cheap, and a lot of people tend to forget that they actually have to pay them back at some point, even if it's supposedly "cheap". There are a lot of idiots who get huge loans and buy expensive material goods to show off to their friends how "successful" they are. (There's even a teenage version of the phenomenon: due to refunding laws, many teenagers can buy clothes they can't actually afford--they wear them for a weekend while partying, then return them to the store for a full refund once the weekend is over, and there is nothing the stores can really do to combat it.)
We're capitalists too. Probably less than Americans, over all -- we don't tend to buy engagement rings worth thousands of dollars, for example -- but it's still rampant in our culture.
This is a good point. But to be more correct, in many countries this is something from the last few years. Many of the social wellfare states are rapidly breaking down that social system......the results will become visible in a few years and I don't think it will be anything positive.