I'd like to start giving people the option of commenting on shorter Cold Takes pieces (which I don't cross-post here or provide audio for). I'm going to use this post for that: I will generally leave a comment for each piece, and people can leave their comments as replies to that.
I think that's a great point about the value of seeing people change their opinions in real time. I do wish there were more models of this.
I'm a bit skeptical on the "purpose" idea, mostly because I think most people have a pretty clear sense that they need to (or will need to) work - and/or provide direct care - in order to support their family. This seems pretty analogous to the hunter-gatherer situation (and I wouldn't assume that the latter feels more tangible or "direct" - my impression is that a lot of hunters can go a while without a clear, direct contribution to the hunt). If I wanted to look into this further, I might investigate hypotheses like "people in the military are especially happy" or "doctors are especially happy" or "people become less happy when they become financially able to stop working and do so" (I would guess these aren't true and would change my mind if they turned out to be).