The surprising science of happiness | Dan Gilbert
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN cites it as one of the best TED talks and as evidence that people adapt to and come to like outcomes they cannot change.
What it is
Psychologist Dan Gilbert argues in this TED talk that our psychological immune system lets us become happy even when things do not go as planned. He challenges the idea that we will be miserable if we do not get what we want.
Recommended by 2 HN commenters across 2 different months, 2021 to 2026.
What Hacker News said
Strong rec carlossouza · 2023-06 · on “Happiness is a reward from our ancestors”
[this video] “The surprising science of happiness”, from Dan Gilbert, is one of the best TED talks of all time (over 4M views). In his amazing & funny 20’ presentation, he explains how our brains are wired and how it relates to happiness. The article reminded me of this great content
Recommends jodrellblank · 2022-07 · on “Ask HN: I’m 41 and still unmarried – what should I do?”
> " What can be more important than life partner? " My favourite TED talk pairing is Dan Gilbert's Surprising Science of Happiness[1], where he offers evidence upon evidence that we humans grow to like what we are stuck with and can't change. A year after winning the lottery and a year after losing the use of their legs, lottery winners and paraplegics report being equally happy with their lives, one of his studies shows, for example. And Barry Schwartz's Paradox of Choice talk[2] where he argues that the more choice we have, the less happy we will be after we made the choice, full of doubt whether we could or should have chosen better, questioning if we should choose again, and seeing any f
Cites jodrellblank · 2021-01 · on “Losing faith in UX”
Prof. Dan Gilbert's studies on Happiness seems to support the paradox of choice: [this video] If we don't have choice, we manufacture happiness. Something we predict will be somehow worse than "real" happiness, but studies show it's not worse. If we have choice, we predict we will be more happy, but studies show we aren't.
Cites kovek · 2022-01 · on “Don't Waste the Good Days”
Just as you can find meaning in the path you took. See how people will be happy even after missing some opportunities - [this video] . It depends on our prefrontal cortex!
Cites kovek · 2022-02 · on “Top Performers Have a Superpower: Happiness”
Here’s a video about happiness. It explains that has something to do with our prefrontal cortex (which IIRC is related to intelligence) - [this video]
Cites jodrellblank · 2026-01 · on “Fedora Asahi Remix is now working on Apple M3”
> " if I'm going to kill myself by age 30-35? " Maybe you will. But probably whatever stopped you from doing it today and made you push it away for years will feel the same tomorrow, the same next year and at age 30 and 35, saying "if I'm going to kill myself by 40-45" and then "by 50-55". Not always and not everyone, people do suicide, but consider there's 37 million people in poverty in the USA, 18 million with cancer, and a lot more with shit lives in various ways - chronic diseases, disabilities, lost loves, hopeless futures, victims of horrors - and out of that vast amount of misery the USA has "only" 50,000 suicides annually. Much less than I might guess from the numbers. Bodies are 4
Cites Joel_Mckay · 2026-06 · on “The Exhaustion of Talking to a Tool”
Indeed, indifferentism must recognize both positions with similar regard. Then address ambiguity with logic and wisdom. For example, Bayes' theorem projects a reasonable expectation given available data. =3 [this video]