The Hedonic Treadmill Needs a Steering Wheel

I'm currently reading the book Moral Ambition by Rutger Bregman [1]. Chapter 7 begins by discussing how much better life is for humanity today than it was a few centuries ago. At the top of page 124 it reads: The share of the world's population that lives in extreme poverty has gone down nearly 90 percent, and the poor in wealthy countries now enjoy a higher standard of living than kings and emperors did a few centuries back. [2] Bregman sees this progress as proof that humanity can solve massive problems when it aims high. But while this is truly inspiring and likely accurate, I can't help being saddened by the statement's implications. We rarely experience our lives against the backdrop of past centuries; we experience them against the lives of people around us now -- especially those visibly above us on the social ladder. No matter how much progress we make, or how good our lives become within a historical context, that comparison leaves us continuously susceptible to discontent.…