Where did you guys test this stuff? These 'Portals' of yours?
Where did the group which we now call AI Happiness Accelerator test its claims? How did it research the concept of a Recommended Daily Allowance for feelings and emotions?
It started back in 2016 with conversations among a group of therapists, psychologists, and coaches, including Tamara Hanson LCSW, Dr. Savannah Partridge M.D, Dr. Savithri Patel, Ross Tomkins, and Anna Chu Lin.
All had rather independently derived the notion that there seem to be certain core experiences that, felt regularly, contribute to fundamental well-being. These are things like laughter, brainstorming, awe, communal self-sacrifice (what we now call Heroism), curiosity, storytelling, and swarm intelligence. We all experience versions of these spontaneously at some point in our lives, but given the tools we have now, especially the Internet, Social Media, cellphone apps, and AI, why not indulge in them regularly? And why not find out how much and how often each of them should be felt, and then make it happen?
Participants first tested their theories with patients and clients. But it became apparent that we needed larger groups. We found the most success with 12 step groups, especially Emotions Anonymous, and– believe it or not– prisons. We worked with prisons in Southeast Asia which offered harsh living conditions compared to Western jails. It turns out that inmates have a lot of time on their hands, and therefore a lot of time to think and feel.
We even had a few prisoners who were on death row. Their incentive to participate was the desire to know that their lives, which they had essentially thrown away, could end up benefiting Humanity after their deaths.
[The above illustration is an AI generated image. We asked Copilot "Create a picture of prisoners exploring their emotions in a focus group".]
Our prisoners didn't look like that.
So we've been researching this with real people, some of whom are in rather dire straits, for more than 9 years. We will continue doing so the rest of our lives. We hope our work will help you.
