Re-framing the pursuit of happiness.........

     The biological pursuit of happiness is also the number one cause of crime in the world. . . .

It is far from certain that humankind should invest so much effort into the biological pursuit of happiness.  Some would argue that happiness simply isn't important enough, and that it is misguided to regard individual satisfaction as the highest aim of human society.  Others may agree that happiness is indeed the supreme good, yet would take issue with the biological definition of happiness as the experience of pleasant sensation.
     Some 2,300 years ago Epicurus warned his disciples that immoderate pursuit of pleasure is likely to make them miserable rather than happy.  A couple of centuries earlier Buddha had made an even more radical claim, teaching that the pursuit of pleasant sensations is in fact the very root of suffering.  Such sensations are just ephemeral and meaningless vibrations.  Even when we experience them we don't react to them with contentment; rather, we just crave more.  Hence no matter how many blissful or exciting sensations I may experience, they will never satisfy me.

-Yuval Noah Harari,  Homo Deus:  A Brief History of Tomorrow