Happiness and Information

I. Introduction

The conditions of life that govern our lives as humans can potentially, and I suspect usually, be take for granted. On this ground, happiness could potentially be a misnomer for pleasure. And knowledge could be a misnomer for information. It seems to me that we yearn for happiness. It is enshrined for example in the U.S. Declaration of Independence:"We declare these truths to be self-evident.....truth, liberty and the pursuit of happiness'. We spend a lifetime chasing happiness.

In the spirit of 'the examined life', I would like to propose asking the question, "What is happiness?"

Earth & Moon from Mars

A philosopher like Arthur Schopenhauer would say, "it is a state where there is an absence of errors and suffering", as he said in his tome, "The World as Will and Idea". However, beyond our lives on planet earth, our concept of life seems no longer valid, and planet earth does seem negligible in the vastness of space. So any any conclussion we draw within this frame of thinking might be very limited. But it is indeed the nature of the human mind to seek a universal principle that binds this all.



II. Pleasure

Sensory Deprivation Tank

Any bodily response can be construed as information. Sensory contact can be also construed as information. Listening to music, touching a hot stove, watching a movie, scent of a rose are all information to the mind. But, are these pleasures? The act of obtaining pleasures and our bodily response to the act, one could argue, are not the real reasons for enjoyment. The real reason is that the mind recognizes the act as conditions for enjoyment. Unless the mind is capable of recognizing smell, what is smell? How do you explain color to a visually impaired person?

III. Mind

Is the explanation of our capability to enjoy, greater than the enjoyment itself? Also are we limited to enjoying only the information that our 5 senses provide us? The real question I am asking here is whether our mind as an instrument is capable of perceiving this universe in a way that is more than the information the sum of the 5 senses can provide?

(If the answer is yes, then, all the scientists and engineers I know will say, "Prove it!")

IV. The Puzzle

My puzzle that I pose to you for consideration is the following: i) Pleasure is the recognition of feeling ii) Knowledge is the recognition of the source of that feeling. iii) Awareness is the knowledge of the knowledge of the feeling (i.e. saying "I am Happy").

The question: "Is happiness information?" (to put it more pessimistically: "Is happiness nothing more than information?")

V. Summary

In summary, this write-up is not about what makes one happy or what drives happiness. This topic is tee-ed up to explore, "what is happiness" - a more ontological question.

And the puzzle I am posing is whether that state is chimerical, and really worth chasing...and whether we are conditioned to chase it (and thus my original point about taking conditions of life for granted).