Sep 2 2010: Beautiful talk...honestly, quite inspiring...but I think Nic is not well informed in some aspects. First of all, there is a well known pyramid for human needs that have to be acquired in a gradual form before we can experience the next level. For instance, how much happiness do you think you could measure in an individual who lives in the dirt, sleeps in the floor, eats perhaps and if lucky once a day, does not have proper hygiene, has little control of his life, etc?? I am guessing not much happiness...Nic says "..some parts of the world do not have as much as those (refering to first world countries)". Some???? Some parts??? I would say MOST parts....I live in Argentina, and more than 80% of the population are below poverty (of course, that number turns out to be a lot less if we go by government standards and measures). So...my point is: before we can experience that happiness in forms that Nic presents it to us, we have to have basic our needs satisfied, otherwise it is not real.
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A comment on Talk: Nic Marks: The Happy Planet Index