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Re:Former PM Abe Shinzo dies after being shot by jstarfish on Friday July 08, 2022 @04:54PM (#32026919)
Use the suicide rate as an inverse metric.

"Happiness" is subjective, but suicide is as objective an expression of un-happiness as it gets. It's just an icky and emotional topic nobody wants to acknowledge.

I have a good laugh when free shit is used as an indicator of happiness though. Prisoners get free food, education and healthcare. The state will even take your children off your hands. Working is optional. Prison surely must be the happiest place on earth!

Re:Former PM Abe Shinzo dies after being shot by notch656a on Friday July 08, 2022 @06:14PM (#32028175)
A society where 1% live in hell and commit suicide and 99% are perfectly content, is more happy than one where 100% are just happy enough to not off themselves and no more.
Re:Former PM Abe Shinzo dies after being shot by rendall on Saturday July 09, 2022 @11:27AM (#32035924)
This reminds me of the short story by Ursula K. LeGuin, "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas", wherein Omelas, an ecstatically happy utopia, depends for its existence on the torment of one single child, kept in a basement dungeon. Citizens can view the child any time they please. Some never do, some only once, some quite often. Some, very few, after viewing the child, leave the city forever.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ones_Who_Walk_Away_from_Om...

Re:Former PM Abe Shinzo dies after being shot by jstarfish on Friday July 08, 2022 @06:44PM (#32028653)
That logic justifies slavery.
Re:Former PM Abe Shinzo dies after being shot by notch656a on Friday July 08, 2022 @07:51PM (#32029582)
Your words not mine.

From this I conclude you believe some things never found in "that logic":

a) Slavery improves societal happiness

b) Maximizing happiness justifies coercion

Thankfully most people don't share your values.

Re:Former PM Abe Shinzo dies after being shot by rendall on Saturday July 09, 2022 @02:59PM (#32038206)
> That logic justifies slavery.

That to me looks only like an observation, not an argument in favor of anything in particular.

Personally speaking, I would not be happy if 1% of my fellow citizens were tormented so that I along with my 99% cohort could be happy, paradoxical as that is.

Let's use the observation to understand what's happening in our respective societies and make things better for everyone.