If America's so rich, how'd it get so sad? • Hacker News Board

Re: If America's so rich, how'd it get so sad?

#341

Post by nephihaha » Thu, Apr 23, 2026, 6:31 PM UTC

TheOtherHobbes wrote: post #311

AnimalMuppet wrote: post #275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll go further. Oppenheimer and Whitehead (neither Christian) have stated, in their respective histories of science, that the Judeo-Christian world view was absolutely necessary for the start of real science, that it could not have originated in a society with a different worldview. Why? Because the Christian view was that God was a reasonable God, and He made the universe. And because He also gave us reason when He…

A huge surprise to the ancient Greeks, who outlined the concept of reason centuries before Christianity appeared, and invented a fair amount of math and the foundations of empiricism while they were at it. In fact Christianity halted scientific progress in the West for around a millennium. Before the Renaissance rediscovered Greek philosophy, the Christian world operated on hierarchy, rhetoric, scholasticism, and vio…

The ancient Greeks had the opportunity to invent the steam engine, but didn't. They had the beginnings of steam power, but slaves were cheaper.

Re: If America's so rich, how'd it get so sad?

#342

Post by cortesoft » Thu, Apr 23, 2026, 6:31 PM UTC

I wonder if the 'English language speakers saw the biggest increases in unhappiness' is related to something else I keep reading about, which is that countries like Russia are spending huge amounts of money on campaigns to decrease stability in the west.

If they are making a concerted effort to drive the narrative in English speaking online communities, it would make sense that English speakers would be most affected.

Re: If America's so rich, how'd it get so sad?

#343

Post by voxadam » Thu, Apr 23, 2026, 6:32 PM UTC

slackfan wrote: post #335

voxadam wrote: post #322

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What percentage of the US population that finds themselves in need of an SSRI or similar medication can afford to obtain and fill such a prescription as compared with citizens of EU countries that enjoy universal healthcare?

I realize that you're baiting, but it's just a google search away. We're at about 10%, vs some EU countries' 13-14%. Considering that - it's highly unlikely that anybody who needs access to SSRIs does not have it.

Forgive me, I wasn't baiting. I was just trying to elude to the fact that a substantial percentage of the American population can not afford to get a doctor to prescribe them medication and often can not afford to fill that prescription. The lack of insurance and prevalence of underinsurance in the US very likely an important aspect of what we're talking about.

Re: If America's so rich, how'd it get so sad?

#344

Post by mrwh » Thu, Apr 23, 2026, 6:32 PM UTC

Speaking for myself, an awful lot of what makes me happy are things I am forced into doing. Work makes me happy, but if I didn't have to work I'm sure I wouldn't. If I had complete freedom my life might become quite lonely and sad.

Re: If America's so rich, how'd it get so sad?

#345

Post by cvoss » Thu, Apr 23, 2026, 6:32 PM UTC

tim333 wrote: post #305

As an occasional visitor to the US from England I was surprised by how expensive it's become. The US always used to seem cheaper than England I think largely because the government got out of the way so houses were cheap because you could build them, cars were cheap because you could import them, food was cheap because you could just grow stuff in huge fields whereas in England much of that was restricted. On my trip…

The US has an enormous land area and the cost of living varies dramatically across it. Intense pockets develop where the high paying jobs are, and everyone wants to cram in there to compete for those jobs, and then they're competing for the housing there, so the prices skyrocket, so the jobs have to pay higher still. Wealthy as the average person may be, the poverty slope is very steep in such places. The SF / Bay Area is the paradigmatic example of this. But when COVID hit, the main attractor of the Bay Area vanished overnight: you didn't have to live there to work those jobs. There was a mass exodus to cheaper places. Texas was at the top of the list of destinations. Austin, though decidedly not the rest of Texas, has a similar culture to SF and so was a natural and comfortable landing spot. So the pressure relief valve on SF is a source of pressure on Austin. But Austin was already suffering growing pains before COVID.

But, all that said, its probably not wise to generalize an experience about Austin to an idea about the US as a whole. At best, you might generalize it to ideas about large US cities.

Re: If America's so rich, how'd it get so sad?

#346

Post by fidotron » Thu, Apr 23, 2026, 6:32 PM UTC

slopinthebag wrote: post #53

Very interesting article, and I can't help but compare with Canada. Canada has fallen from 5th in 2015 to 25th in 2025 on that same World Happiness Report, but if you break it down by age demographics, over 60 are still in the top 10, and under 25's are 71st . That is the largest demographic gap of every developed country. During that time, Canada's economy has been propped up by debt, high levels of immigration lead…

I've been living in Quebec a long time, and the language thing is far more profound than most outside appreciate. It really does function as a de facto barrier for anything they want to use it for, and fairly effectively. In that sense living here can be a bit like being in a time warp.

One factor is that there are just enough smart monolingual francophones that they cannot really effectively leave, which means that the brain drain effect, while present, is nothing like as extreme as in the rest of Canada.

Re: If America's so rich, how'd it get so sad?

#347

Post by Arodex » Thu, Apr 23, 2026, 6:33 PM UTC

hiAndrewQuinn wrote: post #16

I like how the graphs suggest that prior to 2020 a certain "holy trinity" for happiness existed of being married, graduating college, and voting Republican. This passes the sniff test even though I am only 2 for 3, I was not having a great time at 1 and was downright glum at 0.

"Voting Republican" being of course highly correlated, and thus a good proxy, to "being White".

Re: If America's so rich, how'd it get so sad?

#348

Post by dh2022 » Thu, Apr 23, 2026, 6:33 PM UTC

foobarian wrote: post #292

AnimalMuppet wrote: post #275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll go further. Oppenheimer and Whitehead (neither Christian) have stated, in their respective histories of science, that the Judeo-Christian world view was absolutely necessary for the start of real science, that it could not have originated in a society with a different worldview. Why? Because the Christian view was that God was a reasonable God, and He made the universe. And because He also gave us reason when He…

That's an interesting take. Many years ago, I was chatting with a coworker who had emigrated from China; we got into topics like these, and something he said stuck with me all these years. He basically lamented that Chinese civilization is so deeply driven by Confucius thought, and expressed envy at the Western world's Christian underpinnings saying that it was better at driving people to search for "the truth."

Christianity is built upon “believe and do not doubt”. Sorry, I think your Chinese friend was a bit starry-eyed about Christianity…

Re: If America's so rich, how'd it get so sad?

#349

Post by Findecanor » Thu, Apr 23, 2026, 6:33 PM UTC

slackfan wrote: post #29

Our per-capita SSRI consumption is lower than more than a few EU countries'. Also sadness is a natural and ok state of being. Being a gronked out happy zombie is unnatural and should be suspect.

One should not trivialise depression. It is a lot different than just a feeling.

I've suffered from and been successfully treated for depression. I would describe it more as an addiction to feeling low than anything.

I suspect that in the EU there can very well have been a lot of overprescription of SSRI for conditions other than depression, however. Many times, people are just melancholy because of external life factors, and no drug could improve those.

Re: If America's so rich, how'd it get so sad?

#350

Post by joe_mamba » Thu, Apr 23, 2026, 6:33 PM UTC

mancerayder wrote: post #289

Our CEOs are happily, gleefully, boasting about how we're replaceable. That sort of stuff causes pitchforks to rise up in other countries. We Americans are hard-working sheep, and we deserve all the motivational Corpspeak we have to suffer through on LinkedIn posts. I've worked in this industry (tech) a very long time, and in every job I have peers that boast about off hours work. We get what we deserve.

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