Becoming Depressed Was The Worst And Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me
I wrote an article for The Tab – I had depression, now I study a PhD in happiness at Oxford University – published 29/04/2016
Excerpt:
These days, if people meet me again and can’t remember my name, they tend to say, “oh, wait, aren’t you the happiness guy?”. It’s an apt description: […]
How To Life A Happy Life – Interview With University Of Oxford
I was recently interviewed as part of Oxford’s How To Life A Happy Life, one of their Research In Conversation series. The link is here. There are some super interviews by actual philosophers like Jeff McMahan and Will MacAskill.
Here’s an excerpt:
‘If you […]
Can We Make The World Happier? If So, How?
[Note to reader: this is a 2,000 word philosophy essay, rather than a easy-read blog post. It’s a work in progress, and comments very welcome]
Reading time: 10 minutes
In this paper I argue the typical answers people give to the above question, such as economic growth, improvements in healthcare, technology and education […]
Need a new New Year’s Resolution? Teach yourself to be happier in 12 minutes a day
It’s a New Year. This means, for a limited period only, it’s acceptable to tell strangers about our grand plans to win at life: how we’re going to be doing daily 5am runs, refusing alcohol, campaigning for human rights and starting(/finishing) that book we’re working on.
Whilst we’d usually frown on […]
Want To Be Happier? Change How You Think Or What You Think About.
What would bring you more happiness? Go on, I’m asking you. I’m not going to give it to you, but I’d like to know. Serious question: what do you think would make you happier? Is it money? Is it fame? Is pina coladas and getting caught in the rain?
Okay, you […]
How can we pursue happiness if we don’t know what it is?
Everyone wants to be happy, don’t they? Aristotle thought it was the goal of life. The Declaration of Independence states we have an alienable right to pursue it. There’s a nascent field of academic study, positive psychology, which tries to collect data on what causes it. Legions of people merrily sell their […]
Matt Damon Must Die: Why ‘The Martian’ Is A Terrible Example Of How To Save A Life
On the face of it, Ridley Scott’s film is a straightforwardly inspiring story of one man’s battle against the odds to survive until a gargantuan rescue effort can save him. A tale of a rescue effort that only works because a rag-tag bunch of renegades break the rules and fight the system […]
New UK Happiness Survey Results: We’re Getting Happier But Leave London For The West Country
The Office of National Statistics has just completed it’s major annual poll of well-being. 165,000 Britons were asking about their levels of happiness, life satisfaction, worthwhileness and stress.
People might be surprised to know that the scores have gone up, not down, every year since they were first collected […]
