The machines tried at first to make humans always happy in the virtual world they've created. They did that not out of care for humans, but in order that they could peacefully harvest energy from the oblivious humans' bodies.
As I remember it, it didn't go well in terms of production. So, the machines replicated the real not-always-so-happy world instead.
I'm not trying to suggest anything btw.
Or, am I?
> The toll that working through the global pandemic has taken on employees’ job satisfaction and emotional well-being has focused business leaders on fostering workforce happiness as never before.
Yes, I'm sure it's that and not the record-high rates of resignation.
In a hypothetical pursuit of the definition of happiness, I tend to lean on an analogy in TCG's (trading cards, yes). Rarity.
The machines computed that happiness exists on a spectrum. As with TCG's, there must exist a high ratio of 'common' to feel the implication of pulling a 'mythic'.
To be happy, you must experience unhappy?