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Why aren't smart people happier?
121–130 of 651 posts
Re: Why aren't smart people happier?
#122Because, whatever its merits, the world is a pretty grim and existentially terrifying place once you think about it?
You can be smart and think the world is a beautiful place and life is a gift.
Re: Why aren't smart people happier?
#123Seems like most of the comments are focusing on the happiness angle, but I am liking the framework that some people are good at solving poorly-defined problems. It makes me think of people who have huge impact and success in life, with little obvious explanation. People like Bill Gates, Larry Ellison, Steve Jobs, Barack Obama, Donald Trump, etc. People to whom a lot of success is attributed, but it’s hard to say exac…
You're kidding that it's hard to attribute which skills made Donald Trump successful, right? Born rich, lies and steals in business dealings is all there is to it.
Re: Why aren't smart people happier?
#124Because there are lots of stupid people around them that make life miserable for everybody, not only themselves ! Note: I wrote this comment after reading just the title...
I disagree, I think it's more about a person's emotion intelligence. You can choose to be happy even if everyone else around you is not. It might not be easy, but I think it's possible.
Totally agree. One might require to be "in their head" a lot of the time to not get swung down, and enjoy himself such as laughing at his own jokes. To make it possible, one has to be free enough to express oneself (also internally). But freedom of thought and action is on the decline as I've come to observe lately, but that's another topic.
Re: Why aren't smart people happier?
#125Earlier quoted context omitted.
As I heard someone say, happiness is your reality minus your expectations. Smart people see more variables that could be changed, more components that could be modified, and are less likely to accept things as they are. This creates a false sense of ease by which reality could be modified, and thus higher expectations for the world around them. I suspect this misplaces happiness and contentment, but the two are also…
Happiness is just chemicals, it has nothing to do with that.
Computers are just electrons moving. Biology is just phyics. See how little that explains?
The whole is greater than the sum of its parts, even if it's still encoded in the parts.
Re: Why aren't smart people happier?
#126Earlier quoted context omitted.
No reason? You even stated the reason "for promotion". It's OK if you are not aiming for promotions but don't judge others when they do.
no reason in the real world. no reason that matters / makes you fulfilled / makes you feel proud to be doing your job success in this industry is proportional to your ability to not notice or not believe that your work is pointless
Uhh, money? Supporting a family in the bay area is helped a little by money.
Re: Why aren't smart people happier?
#127Because, whatever its merits, the world is a pretty grim and existentially terrifying place once you think about it?
Exactly. Ancient peoples were able to do all of their basic work in a few hours a day, the rest was leisure time.
I don't know if I would go that far without qualifiers. They definitely didn't do the same work load as many modern humans from pretty much all accounts, but that doesn't mean they always did things faster because they didn't need to.
Just for a modern example like painting a room, if im working as a painter as a job, paint is flying off my roller as fast as it can. But if im painting a room for myself, im likely working significantly slower and sedately and not wearing myself out over it. The same for doing other self-sufficient tasks like chopping wood, or washing or mending clothes, maintaining your home and property, or cooking a meal. As a modern job its super fast paced, for someone doing it for themselves without a clock or boss standing over their back they are going to go at a more leisured pace, and likely also enjoying the task far more which could partially count as leisure time. And even if you aren't a farmer and have a boss in those times, if your job was that much harder than a farmer you would likely just leave and find a farm to work on instead.
And of course some tasks are highly seasonal and can't be done at a real leisured pace, certain harvest and planting tasks. Of course those are only for short spurts, and we also have to consider the physical limitations of humans with poorer nutrition who literally could not do the same workload as a modern person. So even the rush at harvest time might be considered a slower pace than many modern jobs. Like a not very healthy by modern standards construction worker today likely has 8 inches height and significantly more muscle mass than the average farmer laborer from 1000 AD, just thanks to the diversity of their diet.
Re: Why aren't smart people happier?
#128I think many smart people tend to be pretty good at building models of the world, and then sort of move into the models and fail to verify that they are accurate.
This can lead to unhappiness because things can feel a lot more hopeless than they are, also makes it incredibly easy to fall into conspiracy theories, and get drawn into red- and blackpill stuff.
Someone who is less smart may just ask a friend or family member, and get an outside perspective on the problems instead. This is not just comforting, but often helpful.
Re: Why aren't smart people happier?
#129I think beyond a certain level surplus IQ begins to cause problems. While still useful, the amount of self-sabotage and thought spirals the brain can generate with the extra power can cause neuroses and unhappiness on a larger scale than those less intelligent are capable of. Combine it with higher societal expectations and it's no great mystery to me why smarter people seem unhappier. Just my thoughts anyways. I'm a…
Anecdotally, expectations and identity (through narcissism) do a lot of the lifting. When we see ourselves as "smart" while still being emotionally immature, then falling short of certain signals and accomplishments we project on that is thought to be tantamount to being a failure. What should be impressed upon us far earlier is that our actions dictate our identity. If they are in harmony with your real desires, as…
As I said in another comment, I think the expectations and probably parts of the narcissism are definitely on the "nurture" side. Smarter people are noticed in school and told how bright their future is. They're not as often told how hard they need to work for that bright future. This sets up expectations of success without developing all the tools needed besides raw intelligence.
Re: Why aren't smart people happier?
#130Smart people understand that the experience of being a conscious being aware of its own suffering and mortality, is fundamentally tragic.
Smarter people don't give a shit and try to live a fulfilling life anyway.