The Hedonic Treadmill

"The material standard of living of a homeless person in modern-day Manhattan is several dozens of times higher than the wealthiest of kings ten thousand years ago."

Can someone explain to me what their definition of "standard of living" is in this context?

I get that they might have access to cleaner water, but surely easy access to food prepared for you and having a roof over your head in a snowstorm would sound really appealing to someone without a home.

(Maybe I need to know what they use as the definition of "homeless"...)

Re: The Hedonic Treadmill

#7

Post by blakesterz » Wed, Apr 20, 2016, 2:36 PM UTC

>>But sunshine after sunshine is correlated with nothing. >> Because if every day was warm and sunny, you would get use to it.

That seems really really wrong. I see they cite studies but it just finally got warm and sunny here after a long cold winter and it feels, well, happy :-) Maybe, just maybe, if it was sunny all the time I'd get used to it. But some days wouldn't be sunny, or I'd travel someplace with no sun, or people would visit and say how awesome the weather is... I dunno, I'd be reminded all the time how awesome it is. Or I'd complain because there's no rain and everything is dry and dead and we're running out of water... damn hedonic treadmill.

Re: The Hedonic Treadmill

#8

Post by leecarraher » Wed, Apr 20, 2016, 2:38 PM UTC

preaching to the choir. happiness is the derivative of circumstance thus ultimately unachievable. Unless you can sustain exponential growth in your current circumstance. Option two, hop on a sinusoid, and sometimes you will be happy and sometimes you wont.

Re: The Hedonic Treadmill

#9

Post by blakesterz » Wed, Apr 20, 2016, 2:39 PM UTC

neogodless wrote: post #6

"The material standard of living of a homeless person in modern-day Manhattan is several dozens of times higher than the wealthiest of kings ten thousand years ago." Can someone explain to me what their definition of "standard of living" is in this context? I get that they might have access to cleaner water, but surely easy access to food prepared for you and having a roof over your head in a snowstorm would sound re…

" Material standard of living can be seen in the increase of real incomes that would increase the purchasing power of consumers, and is characterized by the ability to consume goods and services. Non-material standard of living is more qualitative, and refers to the improvements in quality of life and the environment."

So (assuming that's the same definition they used) yeah, I guess the material standard of living is higher. Seems like that's ignoring quite a bit to sound really optimistic though.

Re: The Hedonic Treadmill

#10

Post by dominotw » Wed, Apr 20, 2016, 2:43 PM UTC

neogodless wrote: post #6

"The material standard of living of a homeless person in modern-day Manhattan is several dozens of times higher than the wealthiest of kings ten thousand years ago." Can someone explain to me what their definition of "standard of living" is in this context? I get that they might have access to cleaner water, but surely easy access to food prepared for you and having a roof over your head in a snowstorm would sound re…

They don't have to eat rotten meat, for example.