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Why aren't smart people happier?

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Re: Why aren't smart people happier?

#151

Post by saltcured »

cosmic_cheese wrote: post #105
burningChrome wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> which is greatly exacerbated when one has the mental acuity to zoom out and see the bigger picture. Do you think this comes with age, or are some people born with the ability regardless of age to see the bigger picture? For myself, I just plodded along through high school and then things started to click more when I was in college, contemplating life in the real world. Many of my classmates in HS seemed to have th…

I think it’s one of those things that varies wildly from person to person. In my case, I was almost completely unconcerned about anything except my hobbies/interests in high school and didn’t have the foggiest clue about where I might be headed. It wasn’t without its stressors but overall it was a carefree time. It was maybe some time about halfway through college when reality began to sink in and that all changed. T…

Huh, I feel like you both changed topics midstream there?

I took your earlier post as saying that the ability to see the bigger picture leads to neurosis and unhappiness. But in replies, you're both talking like that ability lets someone figure out the game and solve for more happiness...?

Going back upstream, I'd say that the ability to "see the big picture" is not well defined. Part of it is abstraction and part of it is systems thinking and knowledge about additional activities going on in your world.

And, I think these are mostly orthogonal to a happiness. Your emotional disposition can cause you to see a very different valence in the same systems view.

Re: Why aren't smart people happier?

#152

Post by CodeMage »

inglor_cz wrote: post #150
dpe82 wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The widely held notion that happiness (or lack thereof) is simply the result of chemical (im)balances is one of the greatest PR victories of the pharmaceutical industry.

Well, people consume cocaine for a reason. But I understand your objection. It is a bit reductive to think like this.

Would you say cocaine makes those people happy?

Re: Why aren't smart people happier?

#153

Post by lordnacho »

AaronAPU wrote: post #137
wouldbecouldbe wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s really not fixed; you can easily train your mind to be less neurotic and more joyful

It really is wild the degree to which you can simply dictate your own mood. If I catch myself feeling grumpy or down, it is pretty easy to reframe and summon genuine happiness. Even during intense suffering of various kinds. To a large extent you get to decide which universe you live in.

This is a bit surprising to hear.

So what should I have done when my parents died?

Re: Why aren't smart people happier?

#154

Post by AngryData »

vorpalhex wrote: post #47
supportengineer wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. Ancient peoples were able to do all of their basic work in a few hours a day, the rest was leisure time.

That's trivially false. Ancient people were always working, and we can see this in people who maintain primative lifestyles. Take bread. You start the oven at 4am. By 5am it is hot enough for your meats. By 7am extinguish, by 8am start your bread and go until 6-7pm. Now you get to start your dough for tomorrow, typically working until 11pm. Historically bakers were known to sleep in flour hoppers as they were spared…

To me it sounds like you already partially contradicted yourself. Bakers sleeping while at work? That would never fly today even if you had literally nothing to do except wait for bread to rise.

Their hours away from home may be similar in many cases, but that doesn't mean they had as high of a workload or had to work as fast as the modern equivalent. Most of them were working for themselves, and set their own pace and rules. And working for yourself is a HUGE perk and often many people's dream scenario. Want to drink beer all day while you chop wood? Sure. Want to sing baudy ballads while you patch your roof? Go ahead. Hurt your wrist while pulling weeds or managing your copice? Go take an immediate break or maybe just come back the next day. And because 90% of the population did that, those expectations carried over into many other jobs because anyone could walk away and find some farm they could work on instead if they really wanted.

Re: Why aren't smart people happier?

#155

Post by mixedCase »

CamperBob2 wrote: post #138
dpe82 wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The widely held notion that happiness (or lack thereof) is simply the result of chemical (im)balances is one of the greatest PR victories of the pharmaceutical industry.

What else is there?

Happiness chemicals are the end result, and end result we cannot cause directly, anyway. What leads you there, how the process involves your particular brain and environment, and how it acts as a feedback loop are a higher concern.

Even if one day you could just squirt the cocktail directly into your receptors or otherwise trick them, there's more to happiness as a part of life than turning yourself into a vegetable, but I digress.

Re: Why aren't smart people happier?

#156

Post by mac3n »

> I have never been one of those who cares about happiness. Happiness is a strange notion. I am just not made for it. It has never been a goal of mine; I do not think in those terms.

< Werner Herzog

Re: Why aren't smart people happier?

#157

Post by inglor_cz »

CodeMage wrote: post #152
inglor_cz wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, people consume cocaine for a reason. But I understand your objection. It is a bit reductive to think like this.

Would you say cocaine makes those people happy?

Yes, at least some of them for some time.

I remember an old addict speaking of cocaine as if it was his only true love. Waxed poetical about it, the way we remember our first kiss.

Seems that at least some people are wired this way.

Re: Why aren't smart people happier?

#158

Post by AngryData »

vorpalhex wrote: post #65
esseph wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is easily proven incorrect. Ancient Rome worked on an 8 day workweek, and traditionally the 8th day was a rest day. Ancient Greeks didn't have weekly days off... but they had up to 120 festivals a year where shops and businesses would be shut down.

Nundinae was only for the ruling class to go shopping https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nundinae So sorry, you still get to bake bread all day. And Greek festival days involved.. lots of food, baths had to be hot, etc. So someone has to run the event. It wasn't the common people getting a day off.

But 90% of the common people were farmers and were not bakers or bath tenders or vendors or the like so would be enjoying the day off. Although farmers didn't really need dedicated days off because their only schedule conflictions would be the main planting and harvest months, the festivals would just be a good way to bring all the farmers together at similar times to party and spend money or trade.

Re: Why aren't smart people happier?

#160

Post by koakuma-chan »

CodeMage wrote: post #152
inglor_cz wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, people consume cocaine for a reason. But I understand your objection. It is a bit reductive to think like this.

Would you say cocaine makes those people happy?

Drugs 100% make people feel happy.
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