This essay is cross-posted from the Clearer Thinking blog. The question of how to achieve true happiness has been debated for thousands of years. In this article, we've summarized ten approaches to happiness, new and old, that are popular today.  How do you think about being truly happy? You might find that your personal views on this topic are captured by one of these ten popu...

I sometimes meet people who think rape and sexual assault are very rare. Or who believe that if someone is assaulted and doesn't report it, then that casts doubt on their story or means they're (somehow) blameworthy. I also have heard people claim that if a victim stays in touch with (or is friendly to) the perpetrator afterward, it means the event must have been consensual (or else fabricated). ...

This essay was co-authored with Josh Castle. In case you haven't heard, I started a podcast about 15 months ago called Clearer Thinking with Spencer Greenberg. The format is that we invite brilliant guests to bring 4 or 5 "ideas that matter", and then we aim to have a fun, intellectual discussion about those ideas. Over the course of several months, listeners repeatedly requested transcri...

1. Psychological: a fresh beginning 2. Scientific: humans record one more orbit around the sun 3. Ritualistic: an opportunity to reflect on how 365 days have gone and what you want to be different for the next 365 4. Traditional: a time for fireworks and celebration 5. Ancient: a dedication to Janus, god of gateways 6. Christian: Jesus’ circumcision (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki...

There's an important type of belief most of us have, which we call "Anchor Beliefs." These beliefs are, by definition, those beliefs we hold that are almost impossible to change. To the believer, an Anchor Belief doesn't feel like a mere belief - it feels like an undeniable truth. These beliefs are often too deeply rooted to change, and the cost of giving them up may be extremely high (e.g.,...

I often hear people claim that everything we do is "selfish" or ultimately aimed at our own pleasure (and avoidance of pain). The way the argument usually goes is that we wouldn't do something unless we "wanted" to do it - and that even for altruistic actions, we do them because they feel good. This view is sometimes called "psychological egoism:" the claim that every human action is motivated by...

Replica Theory is a tiny model I use that makes a lot of accurate predictions about society: When people are in a situation where they're as rewarded for doing an easier, fake version of something as they are for doing the real, valuable version, you'll usually find that most of the activity is fake. There are two types of "fake" activity in the way I'm using the word: (1) Activity t...

Self-compassion is an essential skill - it helps us overcome personal hardship, recognize what we want, and learn how to better support others who are struggling. Inspired by Dr. Kristen Neff’s work on this subject, we’ve put together a list of ten components that we think make up a truly self-compassionate mindset. Regardless of whether or not you try to practice self-compassion in you...

Below, I outline 13 approaches to predicting high levels of success with differing levels of complexity, including my own mega model at the bottom. Note: here, I use the term "success" merely in terms of achievement, career success, or high levels of expertise, NOT in terms of happiness, living a good life, morality, having strong social bonds, etc. There is nothing wrong with not wa...

Many people think that academic philosophy is irrelevant to the real world. But it has increasingly important applications. Here's my list of some of the really interesting ones. Here's hoping philosophers will make further progress on some of these! 1. The Trolley Problem: self-driving cars will be put in situations where there is a choice between sacrificing the passenger to save two pede...