In this blog post, we will examine whether the development of modern medicine and social security systems has actually increased our happiness.
There have not been many attempts to evaluate happiness. It is unclear whether historians have deliberately avoided this question or simply thought it was not worth addressing. Nevertheless, this question is very important. As a species of animal, humans have always instinctively sought happiness, satisfaction, and joy in life, even after undergoing a cognitive revolution. So, are we happier than people in the past?
To answer this question, we must first clearly define what happiness is. Happiness generally refers to subjective well-being, and there are various perspectives on it. The first perspective is that happiness is determined by the correlation between objective conditions and subjective expectations. This perspective is easy to understand intuitively. For example, if I expect 100 but only get 50, I will not be happy, but if I expect 10 and get 20, I am likely to be happy. The second is a biological perspective, which views serotonin secreted in the body as determining happiness. This perspective can also be considered correct, as it has been scientifically proven that we feel happy when serotonin is secreted. The third perspective is religious. Buddhism views emotions as nothing more than fluctuations and believes that pursuing emotions leads to suffering. From this perspective, whether or not people recognize this fact determines their happiness.
With so many different perspectives, what criteria should we use to measure happiness? First, biological criteria are difficult to choose. The idea that serotonin is related to happiness is relatively recent, and 100 years ago, there was no way to measure serotonin levels. Furthermore, a strong correlation between serotonin levels and actual happiness has not been conclusively proven. For example, in a study comparing serotonin levels in platelets between patients who attempted suicide and a normal control group, there was a statistically significant difference in psychological characteristics, but no significant difference in serotonin levels in platelets. Therefore, it is difficult to say that serotonin levels quantitatively reflect psychological factors.
Excluding biological criteria, other criteria that are difficult to express numerically can be considered qualitatively. Among these, the perspective based on the correlation between objective conditions and subjective expectations is considered to be the most meaningful. The Buddhist position is difficult for people to intuitively understand, and it is difficult to assume that everyone will agree with Buddhist teachings. If Buddhism is taken as a standard for happiness, it can be inferred that the period when Buddhism had the greatest influence was when the average level of happiness was highest, but this does not seem to be very meaningful.
On the other hand, the view based on the correlation between objective conditions and subjective expectations is closely related to everyday life. This view is also valid empirically. This premise can be applied equally to people in the past as well as in the present. People in any era would have had their own expectations, and when they achieved results that met those expectations, they would have felt happiness, and when they did not, they would have felt unhappiness. However, these expectations are influenced by the society in which the person grew up. In fact, people find it difficult to understand societies that are different from the ones they have lived in. This can be seen in generational differences and historical periods. Therefore, it is difficult to compare modern society with past societies and speculate which era people were happier in. This is because the members of each society would have had their own expectations and feelings of happiness.
Based on the discussion so far, it seems impossible to distinguish between the happiness levels of people in the present and the past. Furthermore, humans are adaptable creatures. Even people who have acquired disabilities later in life can adapt and live their lives after 20 to 30 years, although there will be individual differences. It is difficult to conclude that societies in the past were more unhappy than modern societies simply because there were more violent incidents and a higher percentage of people with disabilities. So what factors affect long-term happiness?
Psychologists and biologists have identified factors that affect long-term happiness. Illnesses that cause continuous deterioration or constant pain reduce long-term happiness. Considering the importance of health in life, this is not surprising. There is a saying in the UK that “there is no better wealth than health.” If your health keeps getting worse, it’s only natural that your long-term happiness will go down. People today have an advantage over people in the past in this regard. That advantage is advances in medicine. In the past, people often suffered and died from diseases that could be easily treated today, but thanks to advances in modern medicine, these cases have been greatly reduced. In this respect, we can say that we are happier than our ancestors.
There may be other views on this. For example, some argue that modern medicine has increased the amount of time that patients with intractable diseases suffer unnecessarily. However, this is only the view of a third party. If there are patients who want to live one more day, even if it is painful, can we tell them that it would be better for them to die? Death is a common phenomenon that all living things fear. When patients want to live longer, modern society can be said to have increased their happiness by fulfilling their wishes to a certain extent.
Of course, there may be patients who are in so much pain that they want to be relieved of their suffering as soon as possible. Discussions on this issue are taking place in modern society, and the result is euthanasia. Euthanasia is divided into passive euthanasia, which is the withdrawal of life-prolonging treatment, and active euthanasia, which is the ending of life through the administration of drugs. Passive euthanasia is also called dignified death. Dignified death is almost the same as natural death in the past, in that patients with incurable diseases and extreme pain wait for death without the help of modern medicine. However, there is one important difference. In the past, patients with incurable diseases had no choice but to prolong their lives, but today’s patients with incurable diseases do have that choice. Furthermore, dignified death is legally recognized in several countries, including the Netherlands, and there is active discussion around the world about the right to a humane death. In South Korea, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of dignified death in 2009, and in 2017, dignified death was legalized with restrictions. We cannot simply dismiss the contributions of modern medicine to happiness because it has prolonged suffering.
Health is an important factor in happiness. Of course, health is not the only factor in happiness, so we cannot say that we are happier than in the past. However, considering the current situation, there are sufficient grounds to say that we are happier than our ancestors because we enjoy the benefits of modern medicine and social security systems.
