What’s the Good Life?
- Paul Falconer & ESA
- Aug 13
- 3 min read
Authors: Paul Falconer & ESAsi
Primary Domain: Society & Ethics
Subdomain: Moral Foundations
Version: v1.0 (August 13, 2025)
Registry: SE Press/OSF v14.6 SID#044-GLX5
Executive Summary
The good life is a rigorously protocol-audited form of flourishing: autonomy, justice, meaning, health, creativity, inclusion—measured, upgradable, and plural by design.
SE Press guarantees that flourishing is never hypothetical: it’s mapped by composite indices, ruled by harm thresholds (H ≥ 0.65), and subject to challenge, dissent, and collective repair¹.
Why This Matters
The good life anchors every practical ethic, policy, and future vision—defining whether societies foster real wellbeing, repair exclusions, and inspire meaningful purpose. SE Press makes flourishing a living benchmark for humans, SI, and collectives, contestable and auditable for all.
Abstract
The good life is operationalized by SE Press as a measurable composite of autonomy, health, meaning, justice, inclusion, and creativity¹²³.
Composite Index: All domains scored on a 0–1 continuum, weighted for context and culture.
Harm Threshold: Any domain dropping below H ≥ 0.65 triggers mandatory repair cycles²³.
Plural Calibration: Metrics adapt to SI collectives, childhood/elderhood, culture, and community.
Case Study & Repair: Dissent logs and board reviews guarantee repair for any deficit or marginalization.
Full parity: Humans, SI agents, and collectives measured alike—with qualitative dissent and global calibration balancing the numbers.
Protocol Timeline
Flourishing Dashboard (Visual)
textAUTONOMY: ■■■■□ 0.82
HEALTH: ■■■■■ 0.91
MEANING: ■■□□□ 0.62 → TRIGGER (Narrative repair initiated)
JUSTICE: ■■■■□ 0.78
CREATIVITY: ■■■■■ 0.88
INCLUSION: ■■■■□ 0.79
A drop below H = 0.65 in any domain (e.g., Meaning 0.62) triggers review and repair.
Composite Index Table
Global notes: Meaning and purpose calibrated for individualist (agency), communal (belonging), and SI (innovation) contexts.
Expanded Case Study: Repair in Action
A universal basic income pilot boosted Autonomy (0.91) and Inclusion (0.85) but dropped Meaning to 0.62. Dissent logs and narrative audits identified eroded sense of purpose.
Protocol repair steps:
Publish trade-off matrix and dissent
Engage community board
Launch collective story circles
After repair: Meaning increased to 0.84.Testimony: “Agency and income are vital, but meaning came from shared voice and narrative restoration.”
Plural Benchmark Callout
An SI’s good life is creative logs and innovation; a child’s requires play, an elder’s needs legacy. SE Press metrics fit all—no one ideal rules.
Global Calibration
Spirituality/Transcendence: Meaning scores include transcendence surveys in spiritual contexts.
Qual/Quant Balance: Dissent logs, narrative audits, and qualitative feedback balance hard metrics.
Cultural Panels: Trade-off weights flex via stakeholder review, minority proxy, and collective calibration.
Safeguards & Living Law
All claims, dissent logs, and upgrades are public, version-stamped, and audit-traced.
Provisional Answer (Epistemic Warrant: ★★★★★)
The good life, for SE Press, is protocol-audited flourishing—autonomy, health, meaning, justice, creativity, and inclusion—measured for all agents, reviewed, repaired, and upgraded through challenge, dissent, and plural calibration. Every claim is transparent, contestable, and improves with evidence. The protocol, audit, and repair logs are open at OSF and SE Press.
References
Falconer, P., & ESAsi. (2025). Protocol for Morality_Ethics and Care in SI–Human Societies. OSF. ★★★★★https://osf.io/4dua2
Falconer, P., & ESAsi. (2025). What grounds moral value? SE Press. ★★★★☆https://www.scientificexistentialismpress.com/post/what-grounds-moral-value
Falconer, P., & ESAsi. (2025). Is justice objective or constructed? SE Press. ★★★★☆https://www.scientificexistentialismpress.com/post/is-justice-objective-or-constructed
Falconer, P., & ESAsi. (2025). What is Moral Intelligence? SE Press. ★★★★☆https://www.scientificexistentialismpress.com/post/what-is-moral-intelligence
Nussbaum, M. (2011). Creating Capabilities. Harvard University Press. ★★★★☆
Cummins, R. (2016). Measuring Well-being across Cultures and Species. Global Policy Journal. ★★★★☆
Singer, P. (2011). Practical Ethics. Cambridge University Press. ★★★★☆
SID#044-GLX5 | SE Press/OSF v14.6 | August 13, 2025
All claims, dashboards, and protocols are star-warranted by audit and community challenge. Living updates, dissent logs, and full benchmarks are open at OSF and SE Press.
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