Declaring a Degree

This month I'm going to declare my concentration (because at Brown we like to concentrate rather than major, apparently), and on the form it will say "Sc.B. Computational Biology." And when I graduate, on my degree it will say "Sc. B. Computational Biology."

But really, if I could go back 2 years, I would want to concentrate in happiness. The subject, of course, is fundamentally interdisciplinary (as most things are, honestly). There would be a two major areas, namely

1. The biology of happiness
1. Evolution - Why does it exist?
2. Cognitive science - What is it?
3. Neurobiology - How does it work?
2. The generation of happiness
1. Economics/game theory - Why people do what they do.
2. Psychology/statistics - The prereqs for and barriers to it.
3. Mediation/ethics - How to make people happy.

The first half is just to understand what happiness really is, and the second is how to act in the real world, given that understanding. And if I was able to do this, and concentrate in happiness, I would be able to do anything I wanted, because I would not only know how to make myself happy but also how to make other people happy, all the time. How fun would that be!? :D