

Denmark is now world's happiest nation - ComputerGuru
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/7487143.stm

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hugh
Boy, I sure am glad they managed to find a file photo of a guy with glasses
smiling to illustrate the concept of "happiness". I might not have understood
the article properly, without the benefit of the image.

The biggest problem that I can see with these kinds of surveys is that the
shade of meaning of the word "happy" varies from language to language. Hell,
even in English if you ask me if I'm "happy" then I won't be precisely sure
that you mean.

~~~
kirubakaran
Happy? That guy looks lunatic.

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ivankirigin
Don't trust happiness studies. I'll say this for every single post about it.

Look where people are moving. Moving to a country, they are doing something
right. Moving away, they're doing something wrong. Want to move away but it is
against the law: fucked.

~~~
j2d2
In response to this and raghus, I can't help but think checking where people
are moving to is more of a marketing test than relevant information about
happiness.

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ivankirigin
What do you mean by "marketing"?

It is very patronizing to assume people make decisions that aren't in their
best interest. You can certainly point to lots of irrational behavior, but
generally people move to where their lives will be easier.

The biggest problem with happiness research is that there is no objective
measure of happiness, and claims are relative. Poor in a village in Thailand =
happy. Poor outside LA = unhappy.

~~~
pchristensen
People make decisions that _they think_ are in their best interest, even if
those decisions aren't actually in their best interest.

People move to where _they think_ their lives will be easier.

~~~
ivankirigin
It's a fact that the average person in Portugal would be in the bottom
quintile in the US. You can make more money as a migrant farmer in California
than you can as a white collar worker in Mexico, let alone the rest of Latin
America.

So in the case of immigration to the US, the things they think match reality.
This is actually a great example of people doing things they think are in
their best interest that actually are.

~~~
pchristensen
Dang, I tried 4 different ways to counter that but I ended up disagreeing with
myself. I think the "what they think is best but isn't" is a bigger issue with
the moves people _don't_ make - ie staying in an economically depressed town
or country instead of moving somewhere you'd be better off. I have family that
resisted moving to a big city for years because it was so expensive, then when
they finally moved they couldn't believe how many jobs there were and how well
they paid.

~~~
ivankirigin
I'm pretty sure there is a psychological model for "activation energy" on
making a decision that changes the status quo. Deciding not to X a lot easier
than deciding to X. Hopefully someone who knows more about this can elaborate.

On the issue of cities vs. suburban, people drastically undervalue the
increased variety and choice in cities. Economically speaking, wine is wine -
despite the fact that a wine store with 1000 varieties is better than a corner
store with 5. The rub is that this kind of value is difficult to account for.

~~~
pchristensen
City vs suburbs is a whole different story. I was talking about big metro area
vs small town of 30K several hours from an airport.

I'd move back to the city in a second if I could afford it. The $/sqft is the
reason we left. Kind of tough when there are 5 people living off my salary
(me, wife, 2 kids, mother-in-law).

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gamerates
What happened to Iceland? Haven't they been the current rage recently as far
as the "happiest" country on earth?

There is actually a really interesting article about why Iceland ranked so
high that makes some nice comments about the evolving family structure:

<http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/may/18/iceland>

"Highest birth rate in Europe + highest divorce rate + highest percentage of
women working outside the home = the best country in the world in which to
live. There has to be something wrong with this equation. Put those three
factors together - loads of children, broken homes, absent mothers - and what
you have, surely, is a recipe for misery and social chaos. But no. Iceland,
the block of sub-Arctic lava to which these statistics apply, tops the latest
table of the United Nations Development Programme's (UNDP) Human Development
Index rankings, meaning that as a society and as an economy - in terms of
wealth, health and education - they are champions of the world."

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ilamont
More signs that HN is becoming Reddit. Seriously, why is this on HN, and why
are people voting it up?

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geebee
Yeah, this is pretty general. But I'm often interested in hearing the hacker
point of view on topics outside technology.

For instance, one issue that tends to fascinate is why silicon valley is so
far ahead of everyone else. I read an article (in BusinessWeek, I think) about
tech centers in Europe -Barcelona and Copenhagen were listed.

I don't feel any particular need to escape San Francisco, which I absolutely
love. But I've heard Copenhagen and Barcelona are extremely cool cities, and
I'd dig checking them out.

Problem is, many of the elements of the Danes's happiness might night work
well with startup culture. There's a powerful welfare state, and a high degree
of homogeneity in the populace. Silicon Valley thrives on risk, failure, and
diversity.

Who knows, maybe the Danes are too happy to be a great startup center. Maybe
startups are a great way to build wealth, but not happiness, and in the end,
they end up hurting a region. Or maybe that's all crap, and the happiness of
Denmark will cause just the right people to move and/or stay there, and build
an incredible tech community...

Either way, it seems like a good topic for conversation on hacker news.

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raghus
I read this in Reader's Digest: "No matter what people say about the United
States, immigration is still the sincerest form of flattery".

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run4yourlives
You're 9 on the list btw.

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tialys
So then... nothing is rotten in Denmark?

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astine
No, its rotten alright. The Danes have just learned to appreciate it.

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schtog
DANSKJÄÄÄÄÄVVLLLAAAAARRR!!!!

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mynameishere
Happier than this?

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjaFsXOS-y8>

Not likely. And no, I'll never tire of posting that--not 'till the whole world
has seen it.

~~~
aswanson
How in the world did you stumble upon this one? I have to know the whole
process.

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mynameishere
It's conveniently filed under finn bating:

<http://www.gnxp.com/blog/labels/Finn%20baiting.php>

...at any rate, I just watched it again. I revisted all the old pleasures (the
mostly-coordinated high-socks back-up dancing, the pyscho eyebrow work of the
keyboardist at 0:06, the guitarist who seems to be reconsidering the communism
of his fathers, etc) and learned some new things. For instance, I'm beginning
to think the whole thing has homosexual overtones...

~~~
aswanson
_For instance, I'm beginning to think the whole thing has homosexual
overtones..._ You are nearer to the truth.

At any rate, ignore the downmods...that and this
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFR-8NVjw-k> qualify as classics.

