If proof were needed of the growth of the 'happiness industry', it comes in the plethora of forthcoming conferences on the subject. Here are the ones I've comes across; there could well be others:
* Happiness and the Meaning of Life, University of Birmingham, 19 May 2007
* Wellbeing: a common approach, London, 22 May 2007
* Happiness and its Causes, Sydney, 14-15 June 2007
* International Conference on Policies for Happiness, Siena, 14-17 June 2007
* International Conference on Subjective Well-Being and Subjective Indicators of Quality of Life, Berlin, 5-6 July 2007
* Happiness in Global Perspectives & Local Interpretations, Bangkok, 18-19 July 2007
* The 8th Conference of the International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, San Diego, 6-9 December 2007
As if this is something new. Start here (http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/nicomachaen.1.i.html) and then pass through here (http://utilitarianism.com/jeremy-bentham/index.html). I mean, honestly, happiness has been at issue for a very long time.
Posted by: Ben | Tuesday, May 22, 2007 at 11:23 PM