The Economics of Expectation

satisfaction doesn’t sell

a very relevant study

Advertising — the artificial inflation of expectations — makes us unhappy.

This isn’t exactly a hot take. Does anyone think this current implementation of hypercapitalism is truly healthy for humanity?
Criticizing is easy, but let’s spend some time doing it anyway.

I explored some ideas on the future of automation a little while back, and I ended with optimistic views on a post-scarcity world, where people have enough time to be happy with themselves. But would we be happy, I wonder? Would free time and more resources save us from ourselves?

I’ve always been interested in the science of well-being, and for a while I had an uneasy feeling:

If we’re so dreadfully advanced — so socially and scientifically progressed — why is it we seem to be plagued by unhappiness?

Formulaic Enjoyment

I believe that our happiness with some situation or phenomena is largely rooted in our expectations.
If you win the lottery, go to collect your winnings and are told it was only a system error, you’d be rather downhearted.