Answer to Quiz: The extreme is not an estimate of the average.

Assuming one can define happiness, a measure in the “tails”, that is the suicide rate, provides a near-random estimate of the average. Likewise counting the super-rich doesn’t give an idea of the wealth of a country. It is much more of a measure of inequality.

Corollary: policies aiming at decreasing unhappiness should be treated as something independent from policies aiming at increasing happiness. (The *via negativa* argument).

Note: I do not believe we know how to measure happiness, but we know how do deal with extreme unhappiness.

via Answer to Quiz: The extreme is not an estimate… – Nassim Nicholas Taleb.