Month: August 2019

In Stumbling on Happiness Daniel Gilbert writes, “For most of recorded history, people lived where they were born, did what their parents had done, and associated with those who were doing the same.  Millers milled, Smiths smithed, and little Smiths and little Millers married whom and when they were told.  Social structures (such as religions and castes) and physical structures (such as mountains and oceans) were the great dictators that determined how, where, and with whom people would spend their lives, which left most folks with little to decide for themselves.  But the agricultural, industrial, and technological revolutions changed all that, and the resulting explosion of personal liberty has created a bewildering array of options, alternatives, choices, and decisions that our ancestors never faced.  For the very first time, our happiness is in our hands.” Continue reading