Dr. Daniel Kahneman has passed away on March 27, 2024, at age 90. He is a Nobel laureate in Economics, the so-called father of Behavioral Economics, and a legendary scientist.

Danny and his book

I was thinking about Dr. Kahneman a few days ago, about his System 1 and System 2 language about the human brain. I was pondering how to achieve such duality for AI. Then I received the saddening news a few days later.

His name was brought to my attention in 2021, when my advisor sent me a paper by Danny on PNAS entitled “High income improves evaluation of life but not emotional well-being”. My advisor told me PNAS is the most prestigious venue to publish for any science. The thing I notice the most in that paper is the relationship between income and emotional well-being. Its abstract writes:

Emotional well-being also rises with log income, but there is no further progress beyond an annual income of ~$75,000.

It was one of my biggest enlightenment that summer. I realized that, throughout my childhood, I have been conditioned to associate more money with more “happiness”. However, it does have diminishing return. I shared the result with my dad, and he doubted it. I assumed it is because our family never made the equivalent of 75K/year in Vietnam. But I do believe in the result.

My advisor told me the result has influenced how he decided to become a professor and not chasing after money. That was also when I started to have the very first idea of pursuing a PhD instead of going to industry. Therefore, the fact that I am where I am today is thanks to the research of Dr. Kahneman.

Thank you, Dr. Kahneman for such a legacy. R.I.P.