I can be at peace with being an organism that wants to be happy provided

• I have the option of choosing goals to prioritize higher than happiness
• Happiness itself proves to be more sublime than the stimulus-and-response mechanism that is standard equipment on most critters

As for culture being a necessary condition for unleashing either alternatives to happiness or a non-reductionistic kind of happiness, I think I can live with that if culture includes subculture, and not just “received” culture à la Russel Kirk.