Innocence vs. Experience

In 1972, the King of Bhutan proposed the concept of Gross National Happiness as a measure to be maximized in his country, rather than, say, Gross Domestic Product or Per Capita Income.

Indeed, you could say that someone with extensive medical needs going through an expensive court case would contribute greatly to the GDP, but that person certainly is not high on the measure of Gross National Happiness. I've read studies that say that happiness is correlated with income up to a certain basic level, about $40K/family in the US. After that, happiness and income are not well correlated.

On another angle, in the last 5 years or so, Bhutan has opened up to the outside world, allowing television, internet, and travel. I think we would at first assume that this would be a good thing. Greater access to knowledge, news, other ways of being and the global market. While GDP has increased with this openness, Gross National Happiness has decreased.

It brings to mind Blake's dichotomy of Innocence and Experience. Each have their pros and cons. Perhaps as a culture, as a country, Bhutan is making that transition from Innocence with its optimistic happiness to experience with its wisdom/sadness.

So, I have two questions:

1. Do you prefer innocence or experience?
2. Does more money make you happier?
   

College for Free

Really one of the coolest things on the web has to be MIT Open Courseware. These are actual course outlines, lecture notes and even exams from MIT courses, and they're all for free. You can get amazing-sounding classes like:

Geopolitics and Geoeconomics of Global Energy
Managing the Innovation Process
Modern Poetry

The first one sounds exactly like something I would love to work through. Let's see if I actually do. I'll keep you updated.

Know thyself

Oscar Wilde has a way with words:

Only the shallow know themselves.