On Unhappiness

It all started when Krishnendu and I sat down one night to discern what happiness is! Some very old questions that popped in our minds were – what is the ambit of ‘Happiness’; what is ‘Unhappiness’ then; what is the correlation between the two!! Whatever I say, whatever I theorize hereinafter, I must admit that the continued pervasion of life with ‘strife’, ‘conflict’, ‘misery’ and the like leads (rather misleads) to the conclusion that Happiness does not exist at all. However this theory is not a general one regarding happiness as such… this theory essentially explores ‘what if’ the a priori assumption of non-existence of Happiness is true. The purpose of this exercise in particular does not concern Happiness in fact but merely attempts to find a logical conclusion of death in a system in which Happiness simply does not exist & life is essentially a treatment in Unhappiness.

Like any other theory, this one also has a couple of assumptions – these are the ‘a priori’, which we assume as true. The veracity of these assumptions can and I promise shall be debated at some later time. (To give away the truth, I myself have serious questions as to their correctness, but nonetheless it doesn’t concern me here.)

The Assumptions

1. Happiness does not exist
2. Unhappiness permeates Human Life

The Definition of Variables

I. ‘L’ is the variable for individual human life which can exist in either of two states – when one is alive & when one is dead. Therefore,
a. L = 1, shall imply that an individual is alive
b. L = 0, shall imply that an individual is dead

II. ‘U’ is the variable for individual human unhappiness which also can exist in either of two states.
a. U = 1, shall imply the existence of unhappiness
b. U = 0, shall imply the cessation of unhappiness

III. Both ‘L’ and ‘U’ denote the state of the variables and not their quantity.

What might bother someone is the practical reconciliation of emotions usually experienced and termed as ‘Happiness’ within such a framework. It is to be noted that happiness is only relative unhappiness. To explain, suppose ‘A’ is possessed with 2units of ‘U’ while B has 3units of ‘U’. This would effectively imply that A is happier than B because A has lesser quantity of unhappiness than B. Hence Happiness is only relative Unhappiness!

The Principle

The value of ‘U’ shall be ‘1’ ONLY IF the value of ‘L’ is ‘1’

The Explanation and Implications

The principle is significant as it stands. There is certainly the possibility of drawing corollaries from the same – however it is important to avoid a few logical errors while deriving one.

The Principle DOES NOT imply that U=0 when L=0. Had it been so, it would imply that with the cessation of human life effective happiness increases, since U is reduced to non-existence.

However, due to ‘ONLY IF’ operator in the Principle, ‘U’ shall come into existence only when L=1. Hence any study of ‘U’ shall be subject to the fact that ‘L’ remains as ‘1’. Therefore if L=0, then ‘U’ does not come into play at all.

To further explain, when ΣL=0, there shall be no perception of ‘U’ or ΣU at all (where Σ represents the function for the entire humankind). In such a situation there shall be no concept of either ‘Happiness’ or ‘Unhappiness’.

Hence, it CANNOT be claimed that death breeds happiness! That is, cessation of human life shall in no circumstance lead to decrease of relative unhappiness!