IAI LIVE August features an array of events tackling our paradoxical relationship with happiness, pleasure, suffering and dopamine in modern life. Neurophilosophers, addiction experts, policy makers, and historians meet to forge new ground and attempt to solve The Pleasure Paradox.


Most agree heath is better than sickness, abundance better than poverty, and peace better than war. But despite better healthcare, education, and more disposable income, cases of depression have increased more than 50% since 1997. Does more comfort in fact lead to more pain in the long run?  Neurophilosopher Patricia Churchland, Ayn Rand Institute chairman Yaron Brook, and Stanford addiction expert Anna Lembke join host Robert Lawrence Kuhn to explore The Pleasure Paradox in our headline debate.
 
Start the evening with The Opening Interview: Dopamine Nation. Anna Lembke and visionary psychiatrist Simon Wessely dive into the world of modern brain chemistry in search of a understanding for what happiness really is in a world of instant gratification.
 
And in the evening’s Solo Talk: The Happiness Index and the Futility of Suffering, historian Rob Boddice sets out to challenge the central tenets of happiness indices, and the rich details of citizens’ lives they ignore.


In association with Closer To Truth