3. "The surprising science of hapiness"

The “The surprising science of happiness” by Dan Gilbert talks about the term synthetic happiness and some studies that avail it. First, it mentions the importance of the brain, that It has evolved since the prehistoric times, being bigger than before and how it had developed more structures and cognitive process that made us adapt better (like the formation of the pre-frontal cortex). In that context the synthetic happiness was created. Later, he explained the importance of the situations and general context that we experience in our lives, giving some examples about it, like the one with the pictures of the winning lottery/paraplegic, the photography study in Harvard, or the study done with amnesiac people. The important part of the talk was the realization that the synthetic happiness is equally real than the natural happiness, with the difference that the synthetic happiness is developed when we don’t have a choice, and the natural when we have freedom of our choice and achieve what we want.

In my opinion, even though it has some serious studies that avail the synthetic happiness and I don’t deny its value, I think the approach that he does is very misleading for people who don’t understand it well. Basically, at the end of the speech he tells people to don’t pursue natural happiness because it’s more risky, and the “safe way” is to pursue the synthetic happiness. That’s a terrifying thought because people who become conformist are more easily controlled, and even they could lose the will to pursue goals, because “they will be happy either way”. I would explain it more profoundly, but I will do it another time, because the time is up. Thanks for reading!   

2. My guilty pleasure? Videogames D:

Well, I can’t say that it is a guilty pleasure, because I don’t feel guilty at all haha, but is the thing that’s approaches more to that term. Why I consider it a guilty pleasure? Basically, because it takes a lot of my free time in my daily life, and even affects me in my studies and grades at some times, because I dedicate more time to have fun with a new game than to study for a test or a work. I usually play more than one game at the same time, and I can play them for hours without boring. There are some days that I have played literally all day, non-stop! Games like de Ace attorney saga (A law game with investigations of cases) or Fire emblem saga (An RPG which is settled in a fantasy world) can entertain me for weeks, and I play them with passion until I finish them, so I might have a problem with that… but I don’t worry a lot, haha. Well, the game that entertains me the most is Pokemon, since I grew up with that game (and the anime that was broadcasted in Chilevision). I like the exciting wait for the new game, the spoilers that come before the game official release, the new modes of combat in the new generation of Pokemon, and many others things like that. They make me happy, but I must admit that it’s a little embarrassing when there is no one to share my joy, so it’s kind a guilty pleasure. Well, thanks for reading and see you next week! 

A tribute of many Nintendo games by Luis Carrasquillo 

1.Where do I want to travel?

I have traveled to a lot of places before, like Uruguay, Brasil or Argentina, but I really want to travel someday to Japan, hopefully in the next years. Since I was a kid, I liked to watch Anime after school, which was broadcasted in Chilevision channel. That drove me to gradually like the Japanese culture, including music, language, video games, and many others things about it in the following years. The Japanese culture is very interesting because it has a long history and many  catchy points like their participation in the world war two, the contrast of the advanced technology of their cities and the landscape full of vegetation of the country, their religious structures like the Shinto temples, and their polite and generally shy behaviour with the liberation of their imagination, desires (in all ambits, even sexual) and their feelings among other things through the art of Manga, Animation series, Novels and Movies, which I think it’s interesting from the point of view of psychology. I plan to go with my best friend who is studying Japanese so that I will not be so lost in the country, and visit as many places as I can (Although I will definitely go to Ikebukuro, a great market district of tokyo which focuses on things like electronic appliances, anime, manga and games). Thank you for reading!