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If you’re so smart, how come you’re not happy?

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Re: If you’re so smart, how come you’re not happy?

#81

Post by mercacona »

ahmadmk wrote: post #67

This is surprisingly one dimensional… There are many studies that have shown higher levels of intelligence (ie, IQ or some other measurement if intellect) tends to be correlated with higher levels of self-reported “unhappiness,” due to a variety of covariates (eg, higher level of introspection, neuroticism, etc). Which is why looking at something like EQ is important. There aren’t really great measurements of these t…

Do you mind to add some references to your comment? Would like to read about the subject.

Re: If you’re so smart, how come you’re not happy?

#82

Post by dimmke »

noNothing wrote: post #69
Towaway69 wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And therapy. Therapy really helps. I think everybody should go to therapy Friends. I think everyone should have good friends they can talk to. If not, then go to therapy.

If you go the therapist route, please change therapists until you find one that works well for you. Not all therapists work well with all people. Theoretically they should, but practilally they don't and the wrong therapist can be worse than no therapist.

Good disclaimer. I 100% agree.

Re: If you’re so smart, how come you’re not happy?

#83

Post by malux85 »

adamsmith143 wrote: post #66
malux85 wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Congratulations, you can observe and complain and be a bloodless intellect, someone with no skin in the game, Once you're past wallowing in self pity because of the burdens of the great intellect you have been given, then it's time for you to develop some wisdom. Wisdom is accepting the limits of your being and mortality AND THEN DOING YOUR BEST ANYWAY. Wisdom and intellect is acknowledging the fact that you cannot f…

Yes you are locked inside a burning building with no way out and no one else will acknowledge the building is burning down. Best thing to do is write pamphlets about random errata and make as many quality widgets as your boss tells you to. This is the true path to enlightenment. Worthless toil as you slowly burn alive.

Thats not even close to what I said, and is a sad reflection of your perceptions, you should seek help, because before you can help others (as I suggested) you have to be in a good place yourself (which clearly you are not)

Re: If you’re so smart, how come you’re not happy?

#84

Post by Towaway69 »

dimmke wrote: post #64
Towaway69 wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And therapy. Therapy really helps. I think everybody should go to therapy Friends. I think everyone should have good friends they can talk to. If not, then go to therapy.

I think therapy provides benefits that friends don't/can't. Your therapist shouldn't be your friend. They're an objective outsider that can help give you new ways to think about your life.

Some problems don't need a therapist, e.g. Problems with people can be best dealt with (sometimes) by talking to those very same people.

I guess that's what I meant, some problems simply need good friends.

Re: If you’re so smart, how come you’re not happy?

#85

Post by amalcon »

nimbius wrote: post #50

Intelligent people see the truth of the world, the universe. If the truth, if it were good, that we lived in a wonderful society with wonderful people in a universe that cared about us, smart people would be so happy. But being smart is merely a conviction of your enlightenment to the awful reality of things. Bravo, you learned about all these awful things you can’t do much to fix, and the reward is to languish in ex…

This is the kind of overly cynical philosophy that ends up defeating itself. Obviously it can Pascal's Wager itself away (i.e. it's rational to not have this philosophy as it will tend to make one sad and ineffective with no clear benefits other than convincing yourself of your own intelligence).

More importantly some of the premises are suspect at best. Intelligence doesn't reliably cause one to see the truth of the world, and it's not obvious how to evaluate whether the world is good in the first place. It's further unclear that said goodness would make smart people happy, or that its absence would make smart people unhappy.

Re: If you’re so smart, how come you’re not happy?

#86

Post by Towaway69 »

brookst wrote: post #74
adamsmith143 wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, it turns out work will NOT make you free...

"Free" is an absolute that can never be achieved. But work (or at least the money it produces) can deliver types of freedom not otherwise available. Like just deciding to spend a weekend in Paris, or buying a boat, or whatever. Not that everyone can/should want those kinds of freedoms, but money really is a proxy for freedom in this world.

Work -> money -> freedom -> happiness.

Elon Musk is the happiest person alive.

QED.

Re: If you’re so smart, how come you’re not happy?

#87

Post by kamaal »

>>“If you’re so smart, how come you’re not happy? How come you’ve not figured that out?”

There is a default assumption here that being smart should eventually end in some sort of success. Whereas being smart has only mild correlation with being successful. Lots of other things(health, luck etc) matter in success, and eventually people kind of look at optimising one single variable and hope it leads to significant gains in all aspects of life. Which is impossible.

Even if we keep things like luck outside the discussion. Things like good health and fitness play a huge role in happiness, this follows from definition. Unhealthy people can't be happy and lack of fitness effects people's perception of their own-self. Most smart people tend to look at exercise oriented habits as something dumb people do.

Other thing is taking risks. Taking risks, demands being either risk averse or at least being slightly dumb enough to take risks, which smart people wouldn't.

Re: If you’re so smart, how come you’re not happy?

#88

Post by Towaway69 »

Bubble_Pop_22 wrote: post #53

Happiness comes from sudden and unexpected improvements in quality of life. It's 2022 and at least for those who are living in the West there is no sudden anything anymore. Einstein theory is more than 100 years old and we still don't know what to do with it except for GPS which isn't really a big deal and could be re-created with mapping + sensors on the side of the road. We fuck around less and less, hence we disco…

As children we discover the wheel before we are told it's a wheel. Sometimes we discover fire before we are told it burns.

Our personal world is full of rediscovery. Recently I discovered Carl Jung because he said:

> Make the unconscious conscious, else you will be guided by it and call it fate.

I came to the same conclusion but before I read that. I discovered something that Jung also did.

It made me happy because I now know I am on the right path (for me). And I am not alone on that path.

Re: If you’re so smart, how come you’re not happy?

#89

Post by hinata08 »

brookst wrote: post #74
adamsmith143 wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, it turns out work will NOT make you free...

"Free" is an absolute that can never be achieved. But work (or at least the money it produces) can deliver types of freedom not otherwise available. Like just deciding to spend a weekend in Paris, or buying a boat, or whatever. Not that everyone can/should want those kinds of freedoms, but money really is a proxy for freedom in this world.

In a way

but having money can take away some other kinds of freedom.

If you decide to invest instead of spending (mostly in real estate), get successful and well paid on a job, and see money as the only proxy for freedom, you might kill your chances to actually move to Paris, to fulfill yourself in NGOs and clubs, and to build what you want. You will be bound to a city, and to the GDP-making economy. You will only build the legacy that your manager needs, not yourself, and then drive back to your anonymous house.

Also, the wildest stories I've ever heard where from lowkey and remote agricultural villages, or from suburbs, as they go under all the radars. If you have money, you most likely live in a city where you have to keep images.

Having money is double edged, IMO. It's nice to have it, but you still need to feel free, and to be ready to be free to actually be free.

Re: If you’re so smart, how come you’re not happy?

#90

Post by [deleted] »

nimbius wrote: post #50

Intelligent people see the truth of the world, the universe. If the truth, if it were good, that we lived in a wonderful society with wonderful people in a universe that cared about us, smart people would be so happy. But being smart is merely a conviction of your enlightenment to the awful reality of things. Bravo, you learned about all these awful things you can’t do much to fix, and the reward is to languish in ex…

[deleted]
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