@pschwede Well measuring and predicint happiness/suffering is ultimately the tricky part. There is no fail safe way to do this. So no garuntee that if you intend to be a good person that you actually ARE a good person. But thats another matter entierly.

In theory one could measure happiness if we had some sort of a brain scanner. OF course im not suggesting we do this. But the point is that it is an objective characteristic.

I think an example where there is a very good liklihood of increasing happiness is the suicide of a suffering terminally ill patient. If every day is agony and that fate is a virtual garuntee, then ending their life could be seen as the only moral act.