That people don’t know what will make them happy does not invalidate what I said. They could well have desires they are not fully aware of, or are not aware of their current strength.
How do (partially) unaware desires figure into anything if what matters is “the belief that your desires are being fulfilled”? And if you infer anything about desires from lack of happiness I don’t think you have successfully reduced anything. I’d agree there seems to be some connection between happiness and fulfilling desires but it certainly doesn’t look like a simple, solved problem to me.
Can you bring an example of this mechanism working differently?
I think winning the lottery is the usual example. Or take early retirement.
How do (partially) unaware desires figure into anything if what matters is “the belief that your desires are being fulfilled”? And if you infer anything about desires from lack of happiness I don’t think you have successfully reduced anything. I’d agree there seems to be some connection between happiness and fulfilling desires but it certainly doesn’t look like a simple, solved problem to me.
I think winning the lottery is the usual example. Or take early retirement.