Many people say what they want from life is happiness, it's their guiding light. Diamonds can be defined, but how can happiness be defined? Often what people mean actually by happiness is that they do not want stress. Indeed, stress can be defined objectively, by the presence of some hormones (cortisol, norephinephrine, etc.). So happiness could be objectively defined as the absence of stress. (OK, there are endorphin centers all over the brain, but that is more of a punctuated reward system, not the Holly Graal of genuine happiness.)
Such a tentative definition of happiness would lead one to suspect that any activity which would reduce stress levels generate happiness. But controlled, ephemeral situations of distress, by augmenting stress considerably, but transiently and willfully, make average life seem much less stressful, in comparison: one gets vaccinated against stress (all people in highly stressful occupations know this, and military training fully exploits it). Hence high stress, controlled and momentary, makes average life much more peaceful (rats shocked in the same way as a control group, but knowing exactly when the shock is coming, get much less stressed) . Hence stressful physical exercise should augment happiness, which is exactly what is observed.
The conventional explanation for the later effect is that stressful exercise generate endorphins which make people happy. This is indubitably true. But the endorphin effect is only during exercise, and it could be argued, just to compensate for pain and effort, ephemerally. The mechanism described above, admittedly a bit cynical, may be more relevant to how exercise removes stress long term.
Patrice Ayme'.
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
STRANDED IN WASTELAND.
It's no accident that both the USA and Australia, with Canada, emit up to more than three times the carbon dioxide per person, that France does. It's not just because these countries are huge (most of the populations are actually concentrated, and France is also pretty big, the size of Texas, and very spread out). It's not just because gasoline was kept all too long very cheap in these countries (whereas it was made voluntarily expensive in Europe, by huge taxes). It's because of a willful cultural tweak.
As they devoured entire continents (Australia, North America) the European colonists had interest to push and enjoy a culture of waste (because a wasteful culture helped in wasting the human element which was there before). Thus waste anywhere, anyhow, was favored. Thus no wonder the first rule of European urbanism was forgotten: don't sprawl!
An example. In the San Francisco Bay Area local authorities have resisted allowing the construction of high density housing, around transportation nodes (such as train stations) for no good reason whatsoever, except keeping on doing what they do best: augmenting GDP with giant traffic jams. The same authorities keep the price of operating a car with a single person on board cheaper (by at least 50%) than taking public transportation, even across the bridges they control the fares of. No matter that they have been unable, for nearly 20 years to build a replacement for the quake damaged Bay Bridge, and that cities are going bankrupt.
An economic metamorphosis is needed in the high carbon coutries, but it will not come without a philosophical one, first. Change? Yes, we should. But start with the head, not the pocketbook (that was tried before, and found wanting).
Patrice Ayme.
(The preceding observations were published on the Krugman NYT blog post of May 13, 2008, 9:17 am "Stranded in suburbia; "Stranded in suburbia" reproduced from The Oil Drum a nice picture from the Sydney Morning Herald about the percentage of income Sydney area residents will spend on fuel if the price rises substantially. The outer suburbs are, not surprisingly, hard hit. To which Krugman added, following one of our (obvious) themes (he got many comments about prior): "This is really our big problem: we’ve made long-lasting investments — in infrastructure, in housing, and to some extent in our auto fleet — based on low oil prices. Those past decisions are what make (sic) today’s high prices such a big problem.")
As they devoured entire continents (Australia, North America) the European colonists had interest to push and enjoy a culture of waste (because a wasteful culture helped in wasting the human element which was there before). Thus waste anywhere, anyhow, was favored. Thus no wonder the first rule of European urbanism was forgotten: don't sprawl!
An example. In the San Francisco Bay Area local authorities have resisted allowing the construction of high density housing, around transportation nodes (such as train stations) for no good reason whatsoever, except keeping on doing what they do best: augmenting GDP with giant traffic jams. The same authorities keep the price of operating a car with a single person on board cheaper (by at least 50%) than taking public transportation, even across the bridges they control the fares of. No matter that they have been unable, for nearly 20 years to build a replacement for the quake damaged Bay Bridge, and that cities are going bankrupt.
An economic metamorphosis is needed in the high carbon coutries, but it will not come without a philosophical one, first. Change? Yes, we should. But start with the head, not the pocketbook (that was tried before, and found wanting).
Patrice Ayme.
(The preceding observations were published on the Krugman NYT blog post of May 13, 2008, 9:17 am "Stranded in suburbia; "Stranded in suburbia" reproduced from The Oil Drum a nice picture from the Sydney Morning Herald about the percentage of income Sydney area residents will spend on fuel if the price rises substantially. The outer suburbs are, not surprisingly, hard hit. To which Krugman added, following one of our (obvious) themes (he got many comments about prior): "This is really our big problem: we’ve made long-lasting investments — in infrastructure, in housing, and to some extent in our auto fleet — based on low oil prices. Those past decisions are what make (sic) today’s high prices such a big problem.")
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
GAS TAX HOLIDAY FROM REASON FOUND INEFFECTUAL.
It was not just a crime that Hillary Clinton wanted to cancel the gas tax, it was a mistake: voters were not impressed, she lost impressively.
Clinton had demonstrated she was a panderer. Obama showed he was a leader. In November, he will have the pleasure of reminding Mr. McCain of this. A leader has to show the way, and especially when the way is not obvious, not just where everybody sees it too. Leaders encourage people to do well by teaching them what's right.
In Norway, which produces 3 million barrels of oil a day (and exports more than 93%), two-third of the price of gasoline is tax. Overall, European gasoline costs around eight to nine US$ a gallon, most of it, tax. The idea is to force efficiencies. The Peugeot 308, a regular family car on sale now in Europe, gets more than 63 mpg (one did 14,500 kilometers at 75 mpg!). Those efficiencies are all over, explaining why a 65 million strong country such as France make do with less than one-third of the CO2 emission of the USA per person.
Clinton had demonstrated she was a panderer. Obama showed he was a leader. In November, he will have the pleasure of reminding Mr. McCain of this. A leader has to show the way, and especially when the way is not obvious, not just where everybody sees it too. Leaders encourage people to do well by teaching them what's right.
In Norway, which produces 3 million barrels of oil a day (and exports more than 93%), two-third of the price of gasoline is tax. Overall, European gasoline costs around eight to nine US$ a gallon, most of it, tax. The idea is to force efficiencies. The Peugeot 308, a regular family car on sale now in Europe, gets more than 63 mpg (one did 14,500 kilometers at 75 mpg!). Those efficiencies are all over, explaining why a 65 million strong country such as France make do with less than one-third of the CO2 emission of the USA per person.
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