This is going to be filtered evidence, right? Because many people find their meaning and purpose in authoritarian groups or conspiracy theories. It could be interesting to know how many people find their meaning in rationality, and how many in irrationality, but I am afraid that such result wouldn’t exactly be an advertisement for rationality.
Didn’t read your article on Soviet Union, but my first guess is: If the society is skewed in one way, of course many people will find happines when an alternative way becomes available. If you have Stalinism, more freedom later makes many people happy. But in the same way, if you have a rational-ish society, a new wave of conspiracy theories will make many people happy. (Debating economics is boring, realizing it was actually all a lizard conspiracy is refreshing.)
The Communist countries tried to organize fun for their citizens, but in my experience, their version of fun didn’t seem so funny. However, this could have been me: maybe the fun was optimized for average people, and I just wasn’t the target group. It was the kind of fun where you are very careful about not accidentally offending anyone, and where everything must be done under supervision of some politically reliable person. You can easily have simple kinds of fun, such as dancing or tourism, since there is nothing politically dangerous about them. Intellectual hobbies, that would be more dangerous territory.
Regarding the filtered evidence: we have researched and are offering the actual evidence that scholarship in psychology and cognitive neuroscience have shown as contributing to gaining a greater sense of personal meaning and purpose. This includes, as the workbook describes, 3 things:
1) Reflecting on the question of purpose and meaning in life
2) Developing strong community and social bonds
3) Serving others, in a variety of ways.
Different societies, whether authoritarian or democratic, provided opportunities for these activities in different ways. I certainly hear what you’re saying about communist countries and organizing fun. I experienced that myself, as I know you did as well. Yeah, their fun wasn’t so funny for brainy people like us, but for the average citizens, my research shows it was quite a lot of fun. For a brief overview of what my research shows about how the USSR did so, here is a 6-minute video I created on this topic. The point is that there are a variety of ways to find purpose and meaning in life, and the workbook encourages people to be rational agents about one’s search for purpose and meaning.
This is going to be filtered evidence, right? Because many people find their meaning and purpose in authoritarian groups or conspiracy theories. It could be interesting to know how many people find their meaning in rationality, and how many in irrationality, but I am afraid that such result wouldn’t exactly be an advertisement for rationality.
Didn’t read your article on Soviet Union, but my first guess is: If the society is skewed in one way, of course many people will find happines when an alternative way becomes available. If you have Stalinism, more freedom later makes many people happy. But in the same way, if you have a rational-ish society, a new wave of conspiracy theories will make many people happy. (Debating economics is boring, realizing it was actually all a lizard conspiracy is refreshing.)
The Communist countries tried to organize fun for their citizens, but in my experience, their version of fun didn’t seem so funny. However, this could have been me: maybe the fun was optimized for average people, and I just wasn’t the target group. It was the kind of fun where you are very careful about not accidentally offending anyone, and where everything must be done under supervision of some politically reliable person. You can easily have simple kinds of fun, such as dancing or tourism, since there is nothing politically dangerous about them. Intellectual hobbies, that would be more dangerous territory.
Regarding the filtered evidence: we have researched and are offering the actual evidence that scholarship in psychology and cognitive neuroscience have shown as contributing to gaining a greater sense of personal meaning and purpose. This includes, as the workbook describes, 3 things: 1) Reflecting on the question of purpose and meaning in life 2) Developing strong community and social bonds 3) Serving others, in a variety of ways.
Different societies, whether authoritarian or democratic, provided opportunities for these activities in different ways. I certainly hear what you’re saying about communist countries and organizing fun. I experienced that myself, as I know you did as well. Yeah, their fun wasn’t so funny for brainy people like us, but for the average citizens, my research shows it was quite a lot of fun. For a brief overview of what my research shows about how the USSR did so, here is a 6-minute video I created on this topic. The point is that there are a variety of ways to find purpose and meaning in life, and the workbook encourages people to be rational agents about one’s search for purpose and meaning.