#human wellbeing

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

"Religious ideas about good and evil tend to focus on how to achieve well-being in the next life, and this makes them terrible guides to securing it in this one. Of course, there are a few gems to be found in every religious tradition, but insofar as these precepts are wise and useful they are not, in principle, religious." -- Sam Harris

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

Science can answer moral questions - Sam Harris (TED, 2010)

If questions affect human well-being then they do have answers, whether or not we can find them.

And just admitting this -- just admitting that there are right and wrong answers to the question of how humans flourish -- will change the way we talk about morality, and will change our expectations of human cooperation in the future.

[..]

Now, many of you might worry that the notion of well-being is truly undefined, and seemingly perpetually open to be re-construed. And so, how therefore can there be an objective notion of well-being?

Well, consider by analogy, the concept of physical health. The concept of physical health is undefined. As we just heard from Michael Specter, it has changed over the years. When this statue was carved, the average life expectancy was probably 30. It's now around 80 in the developed world. There may come a time when we meddle with our genomes in such a way that not being able to run a marathon at age 200 will be considered a profound disability. People will send you donations when you're in that condition.

Notice that the fact that the concept of health is open, genuinely open for revision, does not make it vacuous. The distinction between a healthy person and a dead one is about as clear and consequential as any we make in science.

Another thing to notice is there may be many peaks on the moral landscape: There may be equivalent ways to thrive; there may be equivalent ways to organize a human society so as to maximize human flourishing.

[..]

So, this, I think, is what the world needs now. It needs people like ourselves to admit that there are right and wrong answers to questions of human flourishing, and morality relates to that domain of facts.

It is possible for individuals, and even for whole cultures, to care about the wrong things, which is to say that it's possible for them to have beliefs and desires that reliably lead to needless human suffering. Just admitting this will transform our discourse about morality.

We live in a world in which the boundaries between nations mean less and less, and they will one day mean nothing.

We live in a world filled with destructive technology, and this technology cannot be uninvented; it will always be easier to break things than to fix them.

It seems to me, therefore, patently obvious that we can no more respect and tolerate vast differences in notions of human well-being than we can respect or tolerate vast differences in the notions about how disease spreads, or in the safety standards of buildings and airplanes.

We simply must converge on the answers we give to the most important questions in human life.

And to do that, we have to admit that these questions have answers.

==

There are better ways to structure a society, and there are worse ways to structure a society. And we should stop pretending we can't tell the difference between the two, that there's just no difference and everybody's in the same boat.

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

“I feel that we should stop wasting our time trying to please the supernatural, and concentrate on improving the welfare of human beings.

I think that we should use our energy, our initiative to solve our problems and stop relying on prayer and wishful thinking.

I believe that if we have faith in ourselves, we won’t have to have faith in gods.”

-- Ruth Hurmence Green

[barrybrunswick]

Human Wellbeing: Dealing with Ego

Human Wellbeing: Dealing with Ego

First, I’ll start by apologising for not writing as many of these articles as I should have, frankly my only excuse is 2020, but you know. It’s a new year so hey ho. At last, the latest in the Human Wellbeing series is here, and today we’re going to cover the subject of ego. Continue reading

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[barrybrunswick]

Human Wellbeing: The Joy Revolution

#Joyrevolution

The Revolution

My friends, fellow humans, good and wondrous souls, you are the soldiers of the revolution. For this revolution we need no weapons, (hey, put that pitchfork down, I said we need ‘no’ weapons). We will shed no blood, cause no pain, we are soldiers of the Joy Revolution or #Joyrevolution.

(more…)

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[barrybrunswick]

Human Wellbeing: Happiness

This week for my monthly human wellbeing blog I’m going to explore happiness. I’ll start with a very important question.

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[barrybrunswick]

Human Well Being: Kindness

Human Well Being: Kindness

This week for the human wellbeing series we’re going to explore kindness and how it can benefit us, benefit our loved ones and just plain make the world a better place.

Being Horrible

I’ve noticed more and more over time, some people seem to get off on being horrible to other people. I don’t care if you have skin of iron, nobody likes others being horrible to them, for whatever reason. I…

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[barrybrunswick]

Human Wellbeing: Positive Thinking

Human Wellbeing: Positive Thinking

What is Positive Thinking?

Positive thinking in its simplest form, is to find the good in a situation. It’s searching for the point of view that will show you that even in a negative situation you will become a stronger, better or a more well-rounded person.

Let’s explore the benefits of positive thinking and how negative thinking can be detrimental to our human wellbeing.

Negativity

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