U.S. hits new low in World Happiness Report

What a disappointing comment on HN. Did you check who published it, what the methodology used was, before commenting?

Of course not. Easier to be snarkier than to research and understand.

For the record: The World Happiness Report is published by the Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford, in partnership with Gallup, the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network and an independent editorial board.

https://www.worldhappiness.report/

That's an argument from authority, essentially saying that it is not possible for such a group to have released nonsense data. One can believe the data was gathered according to strict principles but still believe that the data gathered is nonsense due to errors in self-reporting.

I might report higher happiness right after lunch than right before lunch. I might be happier right after getting a kind text from a friend than before. Or after having sex. Or after watching a funny video. Or after petting my cat. Need I go on?

Any one of those and more could be the singular reason for a 7 instead of a 3 in a given report. There are too many confounding factors to draw any meaningful conclusions from the reports.

I absolutely did not say that. It's not an argument from authority if I trust a specialist in their field with issues in their field.

My problem is with drive-by snarkiness and cynicism comments. If OP had a problem with the study methodology and results, they should've said that.

You yourself are not criticizing the study. You are positing a issue with the data, without checking first if the study addresses the issue at all, and then writing off the whole thing without doing your research first.

And, finally, are you saying oxford professors and, can't overstate this enough, Gallup researchers (Gallup!) are not aware of the problems of self-reported data?!

> It's not an argument from authority if I trust a specialist in their field with issues in their field.

Yes, it kind of is an argument from authority to simply "trust" them. You chastised someone on not checking "what the methodology used was," then cited only the names of the groups who carried it out and said nothing about the methodology.

I trust Einstein and everyone else on the relativity theory. I trust Andrew Wiles and the dozen of people who understood his proof.

I trust my doctor.

You do too.

Of course, I was criticising the way they argue, a meta-argument, not the argument itself. I have no interest in discussing the methodology or result of this study.

They're criticizing the lack of commentary on the actual methodology. You can't defend a methodology from someone who doesn't not specify any mentioned weaknesses. It's sowing doubt with no basis, and that is worthy of criticism in itself.

> Did you check who published it, what the methodology used was, before commenting?

I did, in fact. Did you?

There was, and still is, absolutely nothing indicating you read the study.

Like I mentioned in another comment, I was not interested in the actual study, but in your approach to arguing and criticizing the study (i.e. cavalier drive-by snark and cynicism).

Asking people how happy they are is exactly as scientific as asking them what Disney princess they are. There just isn't much more to say. It doesn't deserve more than drive by snark.

The OP Axios thread didn't explain the actual methodology, either, and I'd think the original onus is on the people posting/citing the study in the first place.

> I have no interest in discussing the methodology or result of this study.

Gotcha, so you're defending the people who made the study, but not the study itself, i.e. appealing to authority.

> I was criticising the way they argue,

As I am to you.

Please, I beg you, ask a LLM or read on Wiki what appealing to authority means

I know what it means from more reliable sources than LLMs and wikis. Maybe you should try checking a more reliable source, yourself. Or state what you actually think I'm getting wrong about it, instead of appealing to the authority of LLMs and wikis!

There is no appeal to authority fallacy when then subject of the appeal is also the authority's area of expertise

Ask and trust Einstein on general relativity --> no appeal to authority

Ask and trust Einstein on why drugs are bad just because he, Einstein the physics genius, says so --> appeal to authority