TED Talk Blog: “The Surprising Science of Happiness”

TED Talk Blog: “The Surprising Science of Happiness”

                Dan Gilbert wrote a novel titled “Stumbling on Happiness” challenging the idea that discontent is caused by not getting exactly what you want. He conducted multiple studies that also concluded we are wired to allow ourselves to become satisfied with something that was not our first choice. His conclusions revolved around the idea that we subconsciously fabricate our own happiness.

                There we several studies conducted first using everyday people, lining up 10 paintings and asking them to order them in the order the liked them. They were then allowed to choose either their 5 or 6 choices. A few weeks later studies found that when the same people were asked to arrange the paintings by preference, the painting they had chosen moved up on their scale and their alternate (usually #6) moved down. When the study was performed with amnesics, the results were consistent.

                Because I’d never learned about the concept of synthesizing our own happiness, this concept was very intriguing. I’ve never reflected on myself before to possibly recall times when I’ve adjusted my own happiness. I believe that this TED talk relays relevant studies that we can be aware of in our day to day lives. I don’t believe that fabricating our happiness is a bad thing nor does it have any negative effects. 

Phillip Bivens and The Innocence Project

           Phillip Bivens, a man from Mississippi, served three decades in prison for a crime he didn't commit. Bivens was wrongly convicted, of the murder and rape of a woman on May 4^th 1979, based on a false confession. Bivens along with two other convicted men had the charges dropped against them when DNA evidence found that another man was guilty of the crime.

                Although the only witness to the crime was the victim’s four-year old son, who consistently stated that it was a single man who hurt his mother, three men were convicted of the crime after two of them falsely confessed. It was the Innocence Project New Orleans reopened the case and obtained the DNA that eventually proved to match another Mississippi who had been convicted of a similar case. The three men were all proven innocent and exonerated. However before Bivens was able to be completely exonerated, he died of lung cancer that spread to his brain.

                It is so saddening and aggravating to hear about stories such as the one of Phillip Bivens. He died before her was completely exonerated. He was forced to spend most of his life in a prison for something he didn't do. It is so frustrating that basically all of the evidence against him was completely fabricated. It’s crazy to think about the family member of Bivens and the other falsely convicted people and how I would feel if this happened to me. 

"Forks Over Knives"

                Could not eating animal products cure someone of cancer? Can eating a plant-based diet remove the problems of diabetes? “Forks Over Knives” explores the possibilities of animal-product free and plant based diets could reversing, preventing, and possibly putting an end to many degenerative illnesses. This documentary follows several scientists on their quests to determine how the findings that areas with plant-based diets had very little experience with diseases that are extremely common in places with animal products in their diets.   

                Because I thought I was fairly familiar with different variations of plant-based, and animal-based diets, and positive and negative aspects of them, this movie crushed many of the positive eating that I believed I had developed; which intrigued me. I was very unaware that people have realized revelations such as the ones about diet choices that are discussed in Forks Over Knives and will consider them when making my own diet choices. Although I am currently not in a position that would further urge me to remove animal based products from my diet, I will consider the advice given in the movie to make healthier choices. One of the biggest shockers I gained from the movie is how cow milk interacts with the human body. The film states something like “It does not make sense that giving a species milk from another species would work.” Growing up, I was always urged to drink cow milk because it was a “healthy choice”. Although, for a number of reasons, my family has transitioned to drinking almond milk over the years, this news gives me more reason to stay away from something I was always taught was good for me.