Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
 |
Map Of World Happiness - A Global Projection of Subjective Well-Being
The first World Map of Happiness has been published by scholars from the University of Leicester. The map is a global projection of subjective well-being (SWB), taken from a variety of recent sources, and compared with related data from UNESCO, the UN and even the CIA.
(Map of World Happiness)
Adrian G. White, of the University of Leicester in the UK, points out in his study that the search for happiness is somewhat intangible, but very important. He notes that the US Declaration of Independence clearly points out "certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness." Philosophers like Jeremy Bentham pointed out in the eighteenth century that the purpose of politics was to bring the greatest happiness to the greatest number of people.
A recent survey in the UK found that 81% of the UK population agreed that the Government's primary objective should be the creation of happiness rather than wealth. One prominent UK politician argued this past year "It’s time we admitted that there’s more to life than money, and it’s time we focused not just on GDP, but on GWB – general well-being."
So how do you quantify and research subjective well-being (SWB)? It's true that temporary moods can sway a given individual's response on a particular day; however, levels of SWB can be changed by circumstances (countering the idea that SWB is biologically determined).
The map is drawn with data extracted from a meta-analysis by Marks, Abdallah, Simms and Thompson, who published the Happy Planet Index in 2006. An overall satisfaction with life scale (SWLS) is extracted from their study, which calculates happiness based on life satisfaction, life expectancy and ecological footprint. That is, it reflects the average years of happy life per unit of planetary resources consumed.
Adrian White's analysis seems to correlate well with data from other studies:
It is immediately evident that there is an effect of poverty on levels of SWB. The map itself mirrors other projection of poverty and GDP. This data on SWB was compared with data on access to education (UNESCO, 2005), health (United Nations, 2005), and poverty (CIA, 2006). It was found that SWB correlated most strongly with health (.7) closely followed by wealth (.6) and access to basic education (.6). This adds to the evidence that from a global perspective the biggest causes of SWB are poverty and associated variables.
It turns out that people in Denmark and Switzerland have the highest overall satisfaction with life; these results were published in a recent New York Times article.
The Happy Planet Index site also has a world happiness index map - remember, their index includes the impact of their material lifestyle on the environment. The link below the map takes you to their very nicely implemented interactive map.
(Map showing the happy planet index - interactive!)
Read more about A global projection of subjective well-being and the Happy Planet Index. The Happy Planet site has a nifty survey that you can take to determine your own HPI; it takes about 5 minutes and is completely anonymous.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 1/9/2007)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 12 )
Related News Stories - (" Culture ")
California Governor Candidate Calls For Voting By Phone
'... every veephone on the continent would display, over and over, two propositions.' John Brunner, 1975.
Chinese Hospital Tries Vonnegut's 'Harrison Bergeron' Cosplay
'He wore spectacles with thick wavy lenses. The spectacles were intended to make him not only half
blind, but to give him whanging headaches besides.' - Kurt Vonnegut, 1961.
A Remarkable Coincidence
'There is a philosophical problem of some difficulty here...' - Arthur C. Clarke, 1953.
Is It Time To Forbid Human Driving?
'Heavy penalties... were to be applied to any one found driving manually-controlled machines.' - Bernard Brown, 1934.
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
Current News
Crystalline Structures In Space, You Say?
A massive space borne lifeform from ST:TNG.
Garçon! A Menu For Artemis II, S'il Vous Plaît
'Michel Ardan, as a Frenchman, was declared chief cook, an important function, which raised no rival.'
Amazing Photonic Crystal Light Sail
'That sail will be twenty thousand miles at the wide part.'
Blue Collar AI Goes To Work To Mine Its Own Crypto
Blue collar bot.
Rogue AI Replicated Itself
'Sapiro’s computer just kept dialing at random, hanging up on humans, until it got a fellow computer of the same type as itself.'
HandelBot Helps Two-Handed Robots Learn Piano
'I request that you feed the correlation between those dots and the levers of the panel into my memory banks.'
Woven Fiber Electronic Skin For Robots
'... all the feel and appearance of human flesh and epidermis.'
When AI Takes Its First Breath
Any suggestions?
Chinese Aircar Light And Airy, Not For Blade Runners
Daytime version.
The Morphing Wheel And The Smartwheel
'If you surf over a bump, the spokes contract to roll over it.'
Transporting Antimatter
'...drawing plans for the magnetic tongs and bed plates and relays.'
Polish Turns Your Nail Into A Stylus
'He wrote on it, using the pointed fingernail of his right forefinger...'
I Wish This Plaudit Pin Was More Like A Wristpad
'Frank was cursing into his wristpad, switching between Arabic and English.'
World's Largest Teleoperated Arm
'...a pair so huge that Stevens could not conceive a use for it..'
Japan's AI Buddharoid Automonks
'...each of them is a neural mapping of the mind of a Tibetan monk who actually lived.'
The New Habitable Zones Include Asimov's Ribbon Worlds
'...there's a narrow belt where the climate is moderate.'
