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Ideas from philosophy at work in real lives, studies and decisions.
The Good Life →
In 1978, psychologists predicted lottery winners would be no happier than other local people. The 22 winners they interviewed weren’t significantly happier, and they rated ordinary pleasures lower
After 50, roughly a third of Americans are living for something beyond themselves, and a Stanford survey of nearly 1,200 older adults found it as often among those on lower incomes or in poor health as among the better-off or healthy
Human Nature →
Parents usually feel closer to their grown children than their children feel to them, and it isn't a sign something went wrong but proof something went right, because a child who needs you a little less is exactly what you spent 20 years raising
In a 2010 study of 2,250 adults, minds were wandering in nearly half the moments people were asked about, and what they were thinking about explained more of their happiness than what they were doing
Lives & Ideas →
In 1974 Nozick asked whether you would plug into a machine that could give you any experience you desired, and he took it for granted that you would refuse.
Carl Jung suggested life splits into two halves, and the surprise is what the second is for — not more career or identity, but an inward turn he called individuation, reclaiming the parts of yourself the first half left behind
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