Choice, the ability to make up your mind and change it, affects both natural and synthetic happiness differently. The freedom to choose among multiple attractive futures and find the one you will most enjoy is the friend of natural happiness. Natural happiness is derived from getting what you want. However, the freedom to choose and change your mind is the enemy of synthetic happiness. Synthetic happiness is how you deal with not getting what you want.
Ted Williams has a special place in my heart. As one of the all-time Red Sox greats and a favorite of my Dad, he is best known as the last major leaguer to finish the regular season with a batting average (BA) of .400 or better. He accomplished this feat in 1941 with an average of .406 marking the 28th occurrence of this rare accomplishment (including competing pro leagues in the late 1800s).
Over time, the .400 batting average has gone the way of the dinosaur. It’s been over 75 years since it was last accomplished. In the 1890’s it was achieved 11 times, including 5 players who had a BA over .400 in the 1894 season. Through the first 65 years of pro baseball, its occurrence has risen and fallen, eventually being snuffed out since Ted Williams made it happen.
Consilience is the concept that evidence from independent and uncorrelated sources can converge to create stronger conclusions. It’s commonly described as requiring independent methods of measurement. A simple example is the difference between measuring the distance between two objects with a laser and a tape measure. If the two measurements are the same you can have a higher degree of confidence the measurement is correct. If they are not in agreement, the average of the two is your best best. Adding additional forms of measurement would further increase confidence in the accuracy.
This example is simple enough and probably sounds like overkill. Why would you measure the living room with more than one form of measurement? The facts are you wouldn’t. Units of measure are standardized and reliable which creates a high degree of certainty in your result. But there’s more to the story.
