Modern Society | Riccardo Barbieri

Most of modern society is (still) based on economic gain. Many (most) people will find this logic, because they don't know anything else and society has worked like that for generations. Thus they think this is unalterable. As in former eras people thought it was unalterable that society were mainly based on war or on religion or on some feudal system or that the earth was flat. The same way that these ancient convictions turned out not to be necessarily true, it could turn out that economics does not necessarily have to be the base of society.

If we don't screw up by destroying the planet or each other, most surely the day will come that the reference will be human happiness, in some way like Butan is trying to pursue currently (in spanish - original source: el País).

Of course this will need some profound change of vision and it definitely will take a long time before this will be accepted and felt (!) on a large scale. But what are some five or ten generations of men's life on a historic scale?

It's a long way to get to Butan's and many people's utopy. We will need to diminish egoism and greed and understand that it's better to do one step forward for example 5 together, instead of ME doing three steps forward, while other four go one step back. It's the sum of the whole that counts, not the gain of one individually.

And I definitely see some first signs. In fact democracy and the universal declaration of human rights are forces in that sense.

Now... there are still many (individuals, and thus, many companies and governments) that do not (always) obide by the corresponding philosophy, taking the path of corruption and obscure (non transparent actions) actions.

What if we compare the numbers of corruption and peoples perception of happiness per country?

Worlds most corrupt countries >>>
(reverse order)

1. New Zealand
2. Denmark
3. Singapore
4. Sweden
5. Switzerland
6. Finland
7. Netherlands
8. Australia
9. Canada
10. Iceland
11. Norway
12. Hong Kong
13. Luxembourg
14. Germany
15. ireland
16. Austria
17. Japan
18. UK
19. US
20. Barbados

Worlds most happy countries, several sources:

 Veenhoven, R., World Database of Happiness, Distributional Findings in Nations,  
Erasmus University Rotterdam. Available at: http://worlddatabaseofhappiness.eur.nl
By this study the 10 happiest countries in the world are:

1. Denmark
2. Switserland
3. Austria
4. Iceland
5. Finland
6. Australia
7. Sweden
8. Canada
9. Guatemala
10. Luxembourg

(found at http://www.financialjesus.com/how-to-get-rich/top-10-happiest-countries/ )

In 2006 researchers at the University of Leicester in Great Britain used numerous sources of data, from the CIA to UNESCO and others, to determine the geographic locations in the world with the happiest populations. (found at http://www.traveleguides.com/happy-countries.php)
Their top ten were:

1. Denmark
2. Switserland
3. Austria
4. Iceland
5. The Bahamas
6. Finland
7. Sweden
8. Bhutan
9. Burnei
10. Canada

There is a small documentary on denmark at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTGKUwMegZ4

Another list from http://www.thehappinessshow.com/HappiestCountries.htm

1. Puerto Rico
2. Mexico
3. Denmark
4. Colombia
5. Ireland
6. Iceland
7. N. Ireland
8. Switzerland
9. Netherlands
10. Canada
11. Austria
12. El Salvador
13. Venezuela
14. Luxembourg
15. U.S.
16. Australia
17. New Zealand
18. Sweden
19. Nigeria
20. Norway
21. Belgium
22. Finland
23. Singapore
24. W. Germany
25. France
26. Argentina
27. Vietnam
28. Chile
29. Indonesia
30. Philippines
31. Taiwan
32. Brazil
33. Spain
34. Israel
35. Italy
36. Portugal
37. E. Germany
38. Slovenia
39. Japan
40. Czech Rep
41. S. Africa
42. Croatia
43. Greece
44. Peru
45. China
46. Morocco
47. S. Korea
48. Iran
49. Poland
50. Turkey
51. Bosnia
52. Uganda
53. Algeria
54. Bangladesh
55. Egypt
56. Kyrgyzstan
57. Hungary
58. Slovakia
59. Jordan
60. Estonia
61. Serbia
62. Tanzania
63. Azerbaijan
64. Montenegro
65. India
66. Lithuania
67. Macedonia
68. Pakistan
69. Latvia
70. Albania
71. Bulgaria
72. Belarus
73. Georgia
74. Romania
75. Moldova
76. Russia
77. Armenia
78. Ukraine
79. Zimbabwe