Thoughts from my reading

1. Those who would use propaganda should be wary of what happens when the ideas they sponsor become more authoritative than they are.

2. Absolute levels of well-being (which philosophers focus on) are different than relative levels of well-being (which our emotions focus on) are different than trends in well-being (which planners focus on) are different than accelerations of well-being (which academics focus on) are different than the jerks of well-being, who everyone ignores. Politicians choose whichever supports their position.

3. The comfort of feeling that one's cause is absolutely right feels worse than the fear that one's cause might be wrong, but the former gets many more people killed.