> It is really a revelation that love is what makes life meaningful?
It does not intends to be a revelation. A study can prove what everyone always believed all along. People believe all kind of things, some are true some are false. A properly designed study shines a dispassionate light at facts in a way which can show if the common belief was false or not.
> Analyzing happiness with this cold academic rigor is just absurd,
You are entitled to think that. The history of humankind is full of people being dead sure of themselves while also being wrong. This is why it's worth to check our assumptions in a dispassionate way. Especially the things we are sure about.
> it is like a depressed species of alien studying our planet to figure out why people have happy lives.
That is your projection. One can be full of joy, happiness, and love while still applying logic and dispassionate reasoning to study a question.
It does not intends to be a revelation. A study can prove what everyone always believed all along. People believe all kind of things, some are true some are false. A properly designed study shines a dispassionate light at facts in a way which can show if the common belief was false or not.
> Analyzing happiness with this cold academic rigor is just absurd,
You are entitled to think that. The history of humankind is full of people being dead sure of themselves while also being wrong. This is why it's worth to check our assumptions in a dispassionate way. Especially the things we are sure about.
> it is like a depressed species of alien studying our planet to figure out why people have happy lives.
That is your projection. One can be full of joy, happiness, and love while still applying logic and dispassionate reasoning to study a question.