Why aren't smart people happier? (2022)
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Why aren't smart people happier? (2022)
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Re: Why aren't smart people happier? (2022)
#2Because we're depressed at being surrounded by stupidity.
Or at least I am; I won't speak for everyone else.
Re: Why aren't smart people happier? (2022)
#3Speaking only for myself: you can't be tortured by thoughts you're not having, and I, sadly, am having thoughts.
Re: Why aren't smart people happier? (2022)
#4Speaking only for myself: you can't be tortured by thoughts you're not having, and I, sadly, am having thoughts.
Or to put it differently: some people can easily ignore things others can not.
Re: Why aren't smart people happier? (2022)
#5Why should being smart make you happy?
Re: Why aren't smart people happier? (2022)
#6Speaking only for myself: you can't be tortured by thoughts you're not having, and I, sadly, am having thoughts.
Likewise.
There's truth to the saying, "ignorance is bliss."
Re: Why aren't smart people happier? (2022)
#7I think the essay has the implicit assumption that if you're 'better' at doing things, you'll end up happier. Since intelligent people aren't happier, the conclusion becomes that intelligence is mostly only relevant to a subset of well-defined abstract problems that don't represent the real messy problems of life.
I think the reality of human happiness is that being in better material circumstances, or being better at solving problems practical or not, doesn't necessarily improve long term happiness.
Adaption to circumstances, the 'hedonic treadmill', means most people aren't going to obtain some very high level of happiness and sustain it indefinitely, regardless of station.
Re: Why aren't smart people happier? (2022)
#8Maybe because they are not that smart? :)
Re: Why aren't smart people happier? (2022)
#9"Ignorance is bliss" - Cypher
Re: Why aren't smart people happier? (2022)
#10Intelligence is a slippery term, as plenty of smart folks have made dumb decisions. That said, I’ve noticed that many people who don’t understand why their choices are subpar tend to blame others, i.e. life happens to them. Someone more aware might internalize their failures. Plenty of mutations of this mechanism.