The more you know, the more you despair.
Why aren't smart people happier?
111–120 of 515 posts
Re: Why aren't smart people happier?
#112The smarter people see the truth of the world and the universe. If the truth was good, that we lived in a wonderful society with wonderful people in a universe that cares about us, smart people would be so happy. But being smart just means you know the awful reality of things. Congrats, you learned about all these awful things you can’t do much to fix, and the reward is you get to experience existential dread. Congra…
I was expecting the OP to say that smarter people were less likely to be happy, because that is the sense a lot of us who believe ourselves to be "smart" have. But that's not what OP is about, and it suggests that's not really what the research says either, there's maybe a bit of hint of a small negative correlation like that, but mostly it says: no correlation. Rather than making the argument you are making, which I…
Good points, and I would even go one step further and cast doubt on the notion that "dumb" people don't see the awful. That is not my experience at all.
Re: Why aren't smart people happier?
#113Being smart isn't enough, you have to be wise. Intelligence can help you climb to the highest positions in business and academia, wisdom allows you to understand that it isn't really worth it.
I was going to say the opposite. Leaders are often wise, experienced and good communicators, they dont need intelligence.
Re: Why aren't smart people happier?
#114The smarter people see the truth of the world and the universe. If the truth was good, that we lived in a wonderful society with wonderful people in a universe that cares about us, smart people would be so happy. But being smart just means you know the awful reality of things. Congrats, you learned about all these awful things you can’t do much to fix, and the reward is you get to experience existential dread. Congra…
You also see beauty where others do not.
"I don’t have to be at the Grand Canyon to appreciate the way the world works, I can see that in reflections of light in my bathroom." - John Carmack
Which I think balances it out.
Re: Why aren't smart people happier?
#115Earlier quoted context omitted.
> wisdom allows you to understand that it isn't really worth it Ah, what a relief. Phew! (I'll choose to believe you, short of understanding this, but this is probably enough to be happy)
Get to know your bosses. Like really get to know them. Mine have told me stories about how their wives left them because they made less than a million one year. Or how their kids are strung out on drugs beacuse they failed to be around them often enough growing up. When they have a conversation, 90% of the time it's about how many widgets the widget factory is going to pump out next month. Old friends come out of the…
"Christianity prohibited the coveting of your neighbor not because it would make God angry, but because it makes your life worse."
Citation needed. It's one of the commandments: “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male slave, or his female slave, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.” Exodus 20:17 (NASB). A book of magical thinking, created out of bronze age mythology, around a hateful, spiteful, capricious god is no basis for a system of philosophical world-view.
You would be better served studying philosophy directly, rather than a book filled with misogyny, slavery, thought-crime and magic.
Re: Why aren't smart people happier?
#116Earlier quoted context omitted.
Happiness is not getting what you want. It is wanting what you get.
What if you got diarrhoea?
How long are you going to be unhappy about that? It’s passes even quicker than a cold and everybody gets it once in a while. Happiness is not to cry over spilled milk.
Re: Why aren't smart people happier?
#117Earlier quoted context omitted.
I was expecting the OP to say that smarter people were less likely to be happy, because that is the sense a lot of us who believe ourselves to be "smart" have. But that's not what OP is about, and it suggests that's not really what the research says either, there's maybe a bit of hint of a small negative correlation like that, but mostly it says: no correlation. Rather than making the argument you are making, which I…
Sometimes people call it wisdom. A concept which has largely fallen out of fashion.
[deleted]
Re: Why aren't smart people happier?
#118Earlier quoted context omitted.
Short term happiness is the wrong goal. The hedonic treadmill is one reason why. Long term life satisfaction is the correct goal. For example, having children decreases the former yet increases the latter.
> yet increases the latter How?
For one thing, after your children have grown up and moved out, most people are really glad they've gone through parenting, have an adult child they are in relation with, potentially grandchildren to enrich their lives with etc.
Re: Why aren't smart people happier?
#119[deleted]
Re: Why aren't smart people happier?
#120I'm not especially smart, or happy, but, personally, I don't know how to be it, or what it feels like. I know pleasure, but being in a constant pleasurable state is not what is meant by happiness as far as I know. Slavoj Žižek (someone who does seem to be especially smart): “Happiness was never important. The problem is that we don't know what we really want. What makes us happy is not to get what we want. But to dre…
Happiness is not getting what you want. It is wanting what you get.
There’s a point in getting the best with what you’ve got. But I know, sometimes we are served really crappy cards so unless that’s the case there’s no reason not to be happy. Comparing ourselves with others is quite often a major reason for unhappiness for many. Avoiding that is key