Happiness is... contagious??

That seems like a strange word. This story is floating around today (here's the Globe column) that describes happiness as having a viral like impact on social networks. Personally I like the idea that one happy person could make a positive impact on people three or four degrees separated. The how part still has me puzzled (are they inferring it's by diffused proxy?) but I particularly like the use of the words contagious and virus. 

It's as if you have no choice, that you catch happiness without knowing or necessarily even wanting it. Does that actually happen? I'd like to track my own emotional state for some period of time just to analyze the social subtext and see what patterns emerge. 

If happiness is indeed contagious, does that then mean that if you are part of a stable and regular social group, any person who you decide to date must be approved by the majority of the group? Meaning, if your friends aren't happy with your relationship, does that actually mean that despite what you think, you really aren't happy with your relationship? 

That'd a scary thought frankly, I don't think I'd trust any of you to play matchmaker for me.

In another interesting story, apparently science is helping mute people speak. The gist of it is that by implanting a chip into this mute man's brain, when he thinks of a vowel sound the system outputs the appropriate sound electronically. 

Does anyone else see the obvious flaws with this system? You can't have something that says everything a man is thinking. He'd be arrested for sexual harassment within two hours of being released from his implant surgery. 

I actually think I've had nightmares where this exact thing happens to me. It's like "what women want" ... in reverse.