Do We Really Want Joy 24/7?

Wired had a short article in their May issue that was pretty thought provoking. The premise was that maybe being happy ALL the time is a bad thing for individuals and society. The author mentions we are entering age where drugs and neural implants could keep us happy more often than not. Is that good? I really liked this paragraph from the article:

From a distance, pleasure without fear or desire sounds pretty good. But in your grasp, it starts to feel less like paradise and more like soma. A species that shuts out adversity does not survive very long in a Darwinian universe. In the short term, humans with happy-making neural implants would cease to be interesting. Quenching feelings of hardship also means never feeling desire or want. Unpleasant as those emotions can be, they’re also the basis for ambition and creativity. “Happy people are not ambitious,” (Susan) Greenfield says. “They do not build civilizations.”

I think the prospect of people wanting to be happy and fulfilled all of the time is something that scares me the most about the future. My gut makes me think that is just plain wrong. I’m all for technological advancement, but it needs to be responsible and appropriate.