Here's the link to the Christakis/Fowler<http://worldhappinessmeter.com/links.php>paper on happiness contagion I mentioned earlier...and a TEDx talk <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZAmkIp8aI4>. Are they building off of Epstein's work? He's not mentioned in the citations.
Ron -- Ron Newman, Founder MyIdeatree.com <http://www.ideatree.us/> The World Happiness Meter <http://worldhappinessmeter.com/> On Thu, Apr 11, 2013 at 10:29 PM, Merle Lefkoff <[email protected]>wrote: > Hi Steve, > > When our "Sustainable Happiness Week" is over (starts Saturday on > Jefferson's birthday--OF COURSE!--ends on Earth day) I'd love to have a > deeper conversation with you guys about all of this. > > We're actually doing two surveys, the one presently on-line based on the > Bhutanese domains of happiness, which doesn't encourage us to do a > statistically significant random sample (but it's a great social organizing > tool)---and a follow-up, which will incorporate the best social research > design we can muster, with hopefully at least a few objective measures. > > I remember in the old days sneaking into SFI to watch Josh Epstein do his > early ppt. on the spread of epidemics and thinking: how can I apply this > to the morphing of mass movements into revolution into civil war into > complete chaos. > > Carl, thanks for the link to the paper on measuring happiness. It's a big > problem among happiness researchers. > > Ron, I will get back to you tomorrow after I look at your web site. > > Merle > > > On Thu, Apr 11, 2013 at 7:29 PM, Steve Smith <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Ron/Merle - >> >> When I went to the WHM, the three things that struck me were: 1) This is >> not a blind measure... it seems like you should have to state your level of >> happiness before you find out what the current "average" level is; 2) It >> looks a lot like the "Current Fire Danger" meter in our forests (Smoky Bear >> attending with his shovel, jeans and hat); 3) I suspect "happiness" to be >> culturally sensitive (both in meaning and in scaling?) >> >> Is there a model of sorts for "contagious happiness"? I also assume >> some of those here who use models of contagious disease might have some >> meta-models to offer (Doug, show your hand)? Are there reservoir >> populations? What are the non-human vectors (pets?). Is cynicism a >> prophylactic? Does happiness (and cynicism) act like quorum >> sensing/quenching (as with biology and/or hive populations?) Are there >> memetic equivalents to the modes of gene/protein expression? >> >> I would expect contemporary models of this might be registered on a >> network (scale-free, small world, power-law connected). >> >> The Maharishi effect has been offered to me many times without >> explanation for it's presumed mechanism. Back in the day, the Maharishi >> claimed that "world peace" (or some other unspecified collective good) >> would be achieved as soon as the square root of 1% of the population (that >> would be .0001 fraction?) achieved Sidhi status. Anecdotally, the number >> started out at a high mark of 10%, then dropped to a less onerous one of >> 1%, I don't know when or why the square root (.0001was added. I assumed it >> implied some kind of model for the phenomenon, but nobody seemed to know >> where that part came from or why the numbers kept getting downgraded. >> >> I recently watched the movie Kumare' (at the suggestion of our own Glen >> Ropella) and enjoyed it a great deal. A documentary film maker sets out >> to look into the world of Guru's and in the process becomes one... >> >> The best line of the movie was "My job is to be happy!", reducing his >> role as a (faux) Guru to a single, simple and effective concept. The >> documentary seemed to be completely authentic (as opposed to being some >> kind of mockumentary) and a conclusion (related to our earlier discussion >> about placebo/nocebo) might be that by embracing the role of a Guru(tm), >> Kumare' (the character) managed to have the effect of a genuine Guru(tm). >> >> 10 of his 14 acolytes remained true to him after he exposed himself as a >> documentary film maker studying the phenomena rather than a "real" guru. 4 >> have refused/avoided further contact with him. All 14 seemed to be >> enjoying huge benefits from their participation with him in his >> "practice". The 10, in followups seemed to have persistent positive >> effects, the other 4 we don't know but might have lost what they gained? >> >> - Steve >> >> Merle, >> I'm the developer of www.WorldHappinessMeter.com (WHM). How can I be >> involved in the Happiness Santa Fe launch on Saturday? I notice from your >> site that an in-depth survey is part of the festivities. One planned >> addition to WHM is a survey in order to gather data worldwide to save the >> need for boots on the ground. >> >> Ron >> >> -- >> Ron Newman, Founder >> MyIdeatree.com <http://www.ideatree.us/> >> The World Happiness Meter <http://worldhappinessmeter.com/> >> >> On Thu, Apr 11, 2013 at 3:12 PM, Merle Lefkoff >> <[email protected]>wrote: >> >>> Roger, >>> >>> Righto! We launch "Happiness Santa Fe" on Saturday ( go to our >>> website, the Center for Emergent Diplomacy, or just go to Happiness Santa >>> Fe for a calendar of events). We've had many recent conversations about >>> how to encourage conditions for a shift in our mental models from >>> consumerism and inequality toward compassion and generosity. >>> >>> When I teach Complexity at Upaya in the Buddhist chaplaincy program I >>> usually suggest that compassion is an emergent property of the biggest >>> system of all--our brains. So I say, hey guys, just meditate more! We >>> have hard neuroscience on how that works. But how do we change the initial >>> conditions for a collective response? Perhaps one way is to measure human >>> happiness and well-being differently by expanding GDP to include ecological >>> and social indicators as the Bhutanese have been trying to do for decades. >>> We tend to value what we measure. >>> >>> You know, dear Roger, that I follow the research carefully. Thanks >>> for this link. You guys study--we act and put it on the ground!! >>> >>> Merle >>> >>> >>> >>> On Thu, Apr 11, 2013 at 1:20 PM, Roger Critchlow <[email protected]> wrote: >>> >>>> There's an intriguing book review in Science this week: >>>> >>>> *Studying Human Behavior* How Scientists Investigate Aggression and >>>> Sexuality *by Helen E. Longino* University of Chicago Press, Chicago, >>>> 2013. 261 pp. S75. ISBN 9780226492872. Paper, $25, £16. ISBN 9780226492889. >>>> >>>> http://www.sciencemag.org/content/340/6129/146.1.full?rss=1 >>>> >>>> The claim is that there is not and will not be a dominant paradigm >>>> for researching human behavior, there are multiple ways of establishing >>>> causes for behavior and that's just the way it is. >>>> >>>> So not only do phenomena worth studying emerge at different levels of >>>> organization, but the emerging phenomena at a level of organization are >>>> amenable to different disciplines of study which may all be judged >>>> "scientific" by a philosopher of science. >>>> >>>> So, what's scientific evidence now? >>>> >>>> -- rec -- >>>> >>>> ============================================================ >>>> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv >>>> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College >>>> to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com >>>> >>> >>> >>> >>> -- >>> Merle Lefkoff, Ph.D. >>> President, Center for Emergent Diplomacy >>> Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA >>> [email protected] >>> mobile: (303) 859-5609 >>> skype: merlelefkoff >>> >>> ============================================================ >>> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv >>> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College >>> to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com >>> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> ============================================================ >> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv >> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College >> to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com >> >> >> >> ============================================================ >> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv >> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College >> to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com >> > > > > -- > Merle Lefkoff, Ph.D. > President, Center for Emergent Diplomacy > Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA > [email protected] > mobile: (303) 859-5609 > skype: merlelefkoff > > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com >
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