alt Hacker NewsInterestingly, we do have quite a lot of material and studies on how to change human behavior and a whole lot of data supporting it: it's called marketing. I think this goes to show that when the entire economy is working on a problem we actually can make an impact, it's just unfortunately all going towards projects that make people poorer and more depressed.
There are limits to that as well though. The USSR put an enormous amount of resources towards creating the “New Soviet Man”, including education, “re-education”, films, literature, psychology, and even biology (eugenics).
You have to make sure your end goal is realistic and attainable. The Soviet example is extreme, but sometimes even changes that look deceptively simple aren’t realistic due to deeply embedded social issues or plain human nature.
Generally, though, I agree that our social priorities seem to be misplaced.