Because of their capacity for thought , people, moreover, are not only free to choose between given possibilities, but able to conceive novel possibilities and explore their consequences. Effective action is based on a clear sense of goals or values, and a good model of the environment in which you try to reach these goals. By applying problem-solving methods, you can explore the possible situations in your model to find the most efficient path from your present situation to your goal. You can then try out this action plan in practice, taking into account the feedback you get in order to correct your course. Happiness is most common in societies which provide sufficient wealth, health care, education, personal freedom and equality.
Happy people tend to be self-confident, open to experience and have good personal relations.
Promoting these social and personal values should increase our overall quality of life. Evolution has predisposed us to age and die because fitness is achieved more easily by fast reproduction than by long life. Aging is the result of a variety of deterioration processes. Therefore, it is unlikely that we will achieve biological immortality in the near future, in spite of a constantly increasing life span. This question in a sense summarizes all previous questions.