Arthur C. Brooks: Are We Happy Yet?
3/12/20262 hr 4 min
This week, Trevor and Eugene are joined by author and social scientist Arthur C. Brooks to unpack the science of happiness and why we’re so good at looking for it in all the wrong places. What begins as a breakdown of the macronutrients of a good life turns into a funny, wide-ranging conversation about the necessity of failure, the search for human connection, and the surprising wisdom hiding inside our most embarrassing moments.
Along the way, Brooks makes the case that the road to happiness isn’t neat, polished, or linear. Rather itt’s messy, imperfect, and usually learned the hard way.
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Clips
Showing 10 of 12Transcript preview
First 90 secondsTrevor Noah· Host0:00
[upbeat music] I've often thought one of the worst things that happened to society was a series of movies, whether it was kids movies or adult movies, rom-coms- Rom-coms ... but that were happily ever after. Like, they, they ended at the moment where the people met. And I- So here's the problem ... I always wondered what that did to people's brains growing up in a world where they went like, "Oh, if you meet the person you love, that's the end," and then it's like, "This is it." Like, w- That's right ... w- what does that- That is the same idea. Pac-Man did that to us as well. [laughs] I never finished Pac-Man.
Eugene Khoza· Host0:35
Remember? There was, they meet, and then, do-do, Ms. Pac-Man.
Trevor Noah· Host0:37
Yeah, but I never, I've never f- seen the end of Pac-Man.
Eugene Khoza· Host0:39
Yeah. Yeah. So- I saw Junior Pac-Man, so I know h- what they did, but I don't know- But there's Junior Pac-Man?
Trevor Noah· Host0:44
Yeah, Junior Pac-Man.
Eugene Khoza· Host0:45
Junior Pac-Man.
Trevor Noah· Host0:46
There was Junior Pac-Man.
Eugene Khoza· Host0:47
Junior Pac-Man.
Trevor Noah· Host0:47
Yeah, Junior Pac-Man. So I knew that- Like little baby Pac-Man. Yeah, like a tiny little Pac-Man, had a little bow, and then the pickety-picky, but like a tiny little Pac-Man.
Eugene Khoza· Host0:52
So it was a girl Pac-Man.
Trevor Noah· Host0:53
Yeah, there was a boy and a girl.
Eugene Khoza· Host0:54
In a little top.
Trevor Noah· Host0:55
There was a girl and a boy.
Eugene Khoza· Host0:56
Ms. P- Ms.- Ms. Pac-Man.
Trevor Noah· Host0:56
No, there was Ms. Pac-Man.
Eugene Khoza· Host0:57
No.
Trevor Noah· Host0:57
But then there was also Junior Pac-Man.
Eugene Khoza· Host0:58
Yeah, Junior Pac-Man. Good to know.
Trevor Noah· Host0:59
Yeah, no, no, they m- they- The whole family. Yeah, Pac-Man had- I like these family values in video games like this. Yeah, yeah, no, Pac-Man did it, bruh. I was like, "Okay."
Eugene Khoza· Host1:05
Yeah, Mario and Luigi did it well.
Trevor Noah· Host1:07
Eh? No, they were brothers, bruh.
Eugene Khoza· Host1:08
They, yeah, yeah.
Trevor Noah· Host1:08
I think you mi- mixing up the story.
Eugene Khoza· Host1:09
They, yeah. Yeah, they were family members.
Trevor Noah· Host1:11
Oh yeah, they were. They were. They were steps.
Eugene Khoza· Host1:12
My, my kids, my kids are, you know, they'd be, they'd be like, "What are these guys? Um, Pac-Man? I wonder what they're talk-" Okay, Elden Ring.
Trevor Noah· Host1:16
Fine, we'll bring in Elden Ring.
Eugene Khoza· Host1:17
Super Mario?
Trevor Noah· Host1:18
We'll, Call of, Call of Duty. We'll go, we got every game covered here. You, you tell us the generation- [laughs] I don't know. And we've got you.
Eugene Khoza· Host1:24
Yeah. I know.
Trevor Noah· Host1:24
We've got you.
Eugene Khoza· Host1:25
Yeah. All right.
Trevor Noah· Host1:26
We got you. It doesn't matter what it is.
Unknown speaker1:28
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