In 'The Happiness Industry', William Davies explores how the concept of happiness has been transformed from a subjective personal experience into an objective, quantifiable phenomenon. The book delves into the historical roots of this transformation, tracing it back to Utilitarian philosophy and the early days of American psychology. Davies argues that this quantification of happiness has led to increased mental health problems, alienation, and manipulation by political and economic elites. He critiques the ways in which corporate and governmental forces use surveillance, targeted advertising, and psychological profiling to maintain a docile and economically efficient population. The book also examines the impact of these practices on workplace productivity, consumerism, and the broader social fabric[1][2][3].
In 'Nervous States: Democracy and the Decline of Reason,' William Davies examines the tension between technocratic government institutions based on reason, fact-finding, and scientific analysis, and the increasing influence of nationalistic sentiment characterized by a distrust of elite interests and a promotion of emotion over fact. The book delves into historical analysis and contemporary examples to illustrate how societies have created states that struggle to meet the expectations placed upon them due to economic and philosophical limitations. Davies also discusses the impact of the attention economy, moral outrage, and the exploitation of emotions in political discourse.
With more and more data available about each of us all the time, what are the consequences of rapid data-driven decision making by organizations, and what are the implications of it for democracy and social well being?
William Davies teaches Politics at Goldsmiths University of London and is the author of several books, including Nervous States: Democracy and the Decline of Reason.
Greg and William discuss how the ongoing crises are misunderstood by elites, and reasons behind the decline in public trust toward experts. William goes over the impact of advancements in behavioral economics, and how modern political and economic phenomena are influenced by historical and sociological contexts.
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True happiness lies in quality time, not more work or consumption
53:18: This science of happiness proves, not that surprisingly, that actually spending time doing things that we consider to be intrinsically worthwhile, like hanging out with our families or pursuing activities in the outdoors that we enjoy doing, is more likely to make us happy than simply working more and consuming more. This is not a mystery. Most people intuitively understand this, but that would then point towards a set of policy goals regarding work-life balance and the rights to log off and to not always be at the beck and call of your manager, and that thing. So, those are more about empowering people than just fixing them the whole time.
How social media weaponizes our comparisons to others
30:35: I think one of the things that a lot of political psychology and economic psychology demonstrate quite convincingly, and I think that this is something that social media platforms weaponize, is that, when we compare ourselves to others, it makes us far more unhappy than economics.
Why culture mass surveillance aligns with conspiracy theory
46:35: [The] culture of mass surveillance goes hand in hand with a mentality of conspiracy theory because a conspiracy theorist believes, in some ways, quite correctly, that there's all this other stuff going on; you don't yet know about it, but someone else knows about it, and they're right! And that, in a way, has always been a feature of conspiracy theory, of social life. There's always been more to political institutions than meets the eye, but what there wasn't in the past was this capacity for vast quantities of data to suddenly come spewing out and often discrediting quite famous and quite powerful people.
unSILOed with Greg LaBlanc 
