In How the Mind Works, Steven Pinker sums up the essence of happiness as being happy with what we have. Today, many of us have more than any generation ever before: more health, more wealth, and more means by which to actualize our dreams. And yet we’re not the happiest people that ever were.
In his book, Happiness, Richard Layard shows how, paradoxically, we’re less content today than our ancestors were just a few decades back. Of course, this is no coincidence.
We humans are ambitious, competitive animals: no matter what we achieve, we get used to it quickly and crave more, and even people who win the lottery don’t stay elated for very long. Our thirst for more might be the reason why humans have shaped the planet like no other species has. In the modern world, however, it is also an inbuilt obstacle to feeling permanently pleased.
Dispatches From The Front 