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Why aren't smart people happier? (2022)

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Re: Why aren't smart people happier? (2022)

#81

Post by ex-aws-dude »

boznz wrote: post #66
darth_avocado wrote: post #23

Im not smart (maybe average), but a lot of my unhappiness starts from just having access to information. And then more I process the information, the more unhappy I become. Smarter people than me probably have more information and are able to process it faster, uncovering effects that are not readily perceived by normal folks like myself.

I stopped viewing all news media companies five years ago. Real news will get to you pretty quickly by other means such as HN which I still frequent a couple of hours a week. Modern news is re-hashing even the trivial in the worst possible way and inviting the extreme idiots on both sides to fight it out in the comment section, I can honestly say I am missing nothing and still find myself informed and happier.

Same, I've learned if something is important enough I'll hear about it anyway

Re: Why aren't smart people happier? (2022)

#82

Post by aeturnum »

I like this but find the dismissal of multiple intelligences pretty unconvincing. I'm amenable to the idea that IQ (and associated tests) measures some underlying `well-defined` problem solving ability (with each problem having other factors), but the 'poorly-defined' problems sure seem like multiple intelligences by another name.

In my experience, different poorly-defined problems have different shapes and how much skill a person can make progress on them depends on a lot of things. For example, it seems like problem of finding ways to make poorly-defined problems fit into a well-defined space ("engineering") and the poorly-defined problems of organizing groups of people into coalitions ("politics") draw on different sorts of intelligence. The author claims that this is often not tested (which is probably true) but the basic observation that unstructured problems are related to each other and different people solve different areas with consistent skill seems true to me.

Re: Why aren't smart people happier? (2022)

#84

Post by irjustin »

paulpauper wrote: post #68
boznz wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I stopped viewing all news media companies five years ago. Real news will get to you pretty quickly by other means such as HN which I still frequent a couple of hours a week. Modern news is re-hashing even the trivial in the worst possible way and inviting the extreme idiots on both sides to fight it out in the comment section, I can honestly say I am missing nothing and still find myself informed and happier.

It is hard to abstain from news completely. The mainstream media is becoming increasingly like social media, feeding on shared sentiment and vague feelings of outrage.

Yes but very possible. I also did it during the latest once the latest election was decided.

Removed all news sites but also stopped looking at facebook, news on youtube, and the biggest one was reddit.

Reddit really affected me. It was so easy to read -> become angry -> engage.

I choose to be less informed to save my mental health, I know I'm way happier.

Re: Why aren't smart people happier? (2022)

#85

Post by ludston »

aeturnum wrote: post #82

I like this but find the dismissal of multiple intelligences pretty unconvincing. I'm amenable to the idea that IQ (and associated tests) measures some underlying `well-defined` problem solving ability (with each problem having other factors), but the 'poorly-defined' problems sure seem like multiple intelligences by another name. In my experience, different poorly-defined problems have different shapes and how much…

Given that the purpose of a measure is to make predictions: IQ can be used to improve predictions of academic outcomes, whereas the multiple intelligences models are worse at this.

Whether or not there are multiple intelligences or not is an implementation detail unless knowledge of this has measurably lead to some better prediction.

Re: Why aren't smart people happier? (2022)

#86

Post by cortesoft »

BeetleB wrote: post #48

> Why aren't smart people happier? I think any discussion on this topic should begin with answering "Why would one expect smart people to be happier?"

I think the essay does a really good job of examining that question, and concludes that you shouldn't. It does, however, start off by explaining why people tend to think that it should.

Re: Why aren't smart people happier? (2022)

#88

Post by Quarrelsome »

darth_avocado wrote: post #23

Im not smart (maybe average), but a lot of my unhappiness starts from just having access to information. And then more I process the information, the more unhappy I become. Smarter people than me probably have more information and are able to process it faster, uncovering effects that are not readily perceived by normal folks like myself.

pretty sure if you're commenting on here then you're way above average. It's not a compliment, its just that you're misunderstanding how low the bar is.

Re: Why aren't smart people happier? (2022)

#89

Post by wccrawford »

amatecha wrote: post #28

When people talk about being happy (or not), I always wonder -- why does it matter? I don't expect to be happy, and I don't strive towards it. I DO strive towards making my life better in terms of engaging in enriching and rewarding experiences, spending time around people I care about, perhaps trying to ensure future stability to the degree I can, and generally growing as a person. Never do I consider the pursuit of…

It sounds like you're always in the pursuit of happiness, you just don't frame it that way. You are always trying to make your life better than it is, which either leads to less misery or more happiness. 2 sides of the same coin.

Re: Why aren't smart people happier? (2022)

#90

Post by pstuart »

rationalist wrote: post #2

Because we're depressed at being surrounded by stupidity. Or at least I am; I won't speak for everyone else.

Right there with you.

There's different flavors of stupidity. There's the "oh damn, why didn't I think of that first" and there's the smug "I did my own research and your evidence doesn't match by beliefs".

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