Happiness is about two kinds of judgments, and one is day to day pleasure. If you're in a swimming pool 90% of the time like that, but five % a day think your life isn't good enough then it's not happiness. When we ask ourselves if we're happy, we trigger a self that is very different from or everyday self. To rely on that is simply unfair. And it simply we're spoiling ourselves out of our own life. But i also don't want to have a son who is, in a philosophical sense, a pig.
Author and psychologist Paul Bloom of the University of Toronto talks about his book, The Sweet Spot, with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Bloom argues that suffering is underrated--suffering is part of happiness and meaning. This is a wide-ranging discussion of popular culture, religion, and what we hope to get out of life.