Happiness is like flux and is predicated upon moving goalposts (hedonic treadmill).
It seems to have emerged that way to drive evolution / progress.
In order for happiness to be sustained, you need economic / technological / societal growth. Who do you think is capable of producing that? Why should society care about the happiness of those people if them being happy / content slows down growth and hence the collective happiness?
> Why should society care about the happiness of those people if them being happy / content slows down growth and hence the collective happiness?
This is the basic problem of what is our purpose. There's no definite answer. What if it's better to optimize towards having no unhappy people rather than average happiness?
Because technological progress is not an iterative process.
There is a certain level of talent x struggle needed to get to the next frontier.
If everyone decided to not suffer in pursuit of excellence and simply work on iterating on what we have, the rate of growth needed to sustain our happiness will never come.
It seems to have emerged that way to drive evolution / progress.
In order for happiness to be sustained, you need economic / technological / societal growth. Who do you think is capable of producing that? Why should society care about the happiness of those people if them being happy / content slows down growth and hence the collective happiness?