Sunken living room

What do you think? The joists are bearing on the lower chord of the beam, but seems there should be a better way. A second beam, perhaps?

How much of a span of the wooden floor joists in the first picture?
Is there any load barriering walls on top, if so how many stories on top?

About 10 - 12 foot span. No walls above this section.

If the joist was bearing on a 2"x2" strip of wood, would you be OK with it?

Personally, I don’t see a problem. Might want to say it’s unconventional, but it is what it is.

It looks fine to me. Not enough weight to worry about.

Perfectly normal construction. Nothing wrong with it.

Ditto.

Ditto…as Nick would say…