Happiness and Unhappiness

 
I go to all sorts of talks and discussions in and around my home city of Portsmouth, UK.
 
One such one was a lecture and Q & A about happiness. It started with a trying to define what happiness is.
 
What was decided on was this collection: Happiness is Subjective wellbeing; Joy, contentment, positive emotions; Deep sense of flourishing from a healthy mind. 
 
Of course the chemical processes that go into creating a sense of wellbeing could be elaborated on. I thought about this and wondered whether getting a series of dopamine hits from an addictive habit constitute happiness? Technically the answer could be “yes”. Dopamine is produced naturally in the body and is considered to be a reward drug. 
 
The audience of about 60 were asked whether if there was a happiness drug (with no unpleasant side effects) should everyone take it and make the world a better and happier place? There were probably about 4 hands that went up in favour.

Some would say that we should happy as much of the time as possible. A few think there should be a drug made available to achieve that. However, unhappiness is what gets us to react to threatening situations. It is what drives our actions and by doing so can lead to a happier and safer world. It is dystopian to want permanent happiness.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3jZepN28xs