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status anxiety, freedom, and youth suicide
I listened to two amazing talks on the radio that tied in to each other in an unexpected fashion. I recommend listening to them online or reading their transcripts.
The first was the very funny, but informative talk by author Alain de Botton on the topic of his latest book Status Anxiety. The talk was recorded at the recent Sydney Writers' Festival. You can find the audio and transcript both accessible from this page. The title makes it sound like a dry subject, but it really isn't -- especially the entertaining way Mr de Botton presents it. (I really recommend listening to his talk because a lot of the fun is in how he presents it -- much of that is lost in the transcript.)
Now couple that talk with the recent Occam's Razor talk by Richard Eckersley, titled The science of self (audio and transcript) and you have a very interesting meshing of ideas. Mr Eckersley's talk is about the strange fact that the suicide rate rises with the standard of living, and asks what could be driving that. He comes up with some intriguing results that relate to autonomy, individualism, culture, materialism and long-term happiness. That combines nicely with Mr de Botton's talk about our need to achieve success and avoid the cruel label "loser", and what it means for how we live our lives and strive for happiness.
Really great stuff!
The first was the very funny, but informative talk by author Alain de Botton on the topic of his latest book Status Anxiety. The talk was recorded at the recent Sydney Writers' Festival. You can find the audio and transcript both accessible from this page. The title makes it sound like a dry subject, but it really isn't -- especially the entertaining way Mr de Botton presents it. (I really recommend listening to his talk because a lot of the fun is in how he presents it -- much of that is lost in the transcript.)
Now couple that talk with the recent Occam's Razor talk by Richard Eckersley, titled The science of self (audio and transcript) and you have a very interesting meshing of ideas. Mr Eckersley's talk is about the strange fact that the suicide rate rises with the standard of living, and asks what could be driving that. He comes up with some intriguing results that relate to autonomy, individualism, culture, materialism and long-term happiness. That combines nicely with Mr de Botton's talk about our need to achieve success and avoid the cruel label "loser", and what it means for how we live our lives and strive for happiness.
Really great stuff!