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Why aren't smart people happier?

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Re: Why aren't smart people happier?

#341

Post by 2muchcoffeeman »

immibis wrote: post #273
mattgreenrocks wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a HealthygamerGG video where he talks about gifted kids as special needs kids bc of this factor. I found it really enlightening. I definitely had to confront it in my own life. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QUjYy4Ksy1E

There is also one where he talks about how about half of his suicidal patients are not delusional and don't have some mood disorder, but are correctly recognising that their lives objectively aren't worth living. (Which is something he tries to fix.)

How?

Re: Why aren't smart people happier?

#342

Post by kaicianflone »

chermi wrote: post #336
kaicianflone wrote: post #330

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I get that, and I’m not trying to convert you through a comment thread. You’re right that many people question the evidence and honestly, I did too for many decades. I didn’t grow up with unshakable faith. I grew into it by using my intellect. Testing it, doubting it, and finding the evidence of prophecy and resurrection more consistent than I expected. I’m not here to “win” you over. I’m sharing what I’ve found beca…

I mean, it's as irrational as any belief held with absolute certainty. I hold all such beliefs to the same standard.

Fair enough but saying all certainty is irrational is itself a pretty certain belief.

Everyone has faith in something, whether it’s science, reason, or their own moral compass. The difference is that Christianity doesn’t pretend we invented truth. It says Truth became a person and met us where we are. That’s not blind certainty. It’s tested faith.

Honestly, I think most of us are just trying to make sense of the world and not feel alone in it. I’ve been on both sides of this, skeptical, searching, believing, doubting again. So I get where you’re coming from. I’m not here to convince you of anything, just sharing what’s given me peace when everything else felt hollow.

If you ever want to talk about it without debating, I’d be down for that too.

Re: Why aren't smart people happier?

#343

Post by johnfn »

alvah wrote: post #318

It's very difficult for most (not all) people to relate to others who are either significantly more or significantly less intelligent than them. So, for example (using IQ as a proxy), most people of average intelligence (~100IQ) would find it difficult to relate to those of ~65IQ, and equally difficult to find much in common with someone much more intelligent than them (140+IQ). Given power laws / bell-curve distribu…

This doesn’t seem obviously true. There’s a bell curve of how knowledgeable people are with tech and somehow people I spend time with end up in the tail end. There’s a bell curve of how much they like board games and I end up spending a lot of time with people at the tail end as well. In general, the people you spend time with are not selected by a process which is even close to random.

Re: Why aren't smart people happier?

#344

Post by lisdexan »

kaicianflone wrote: post #174
asah wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

lol, the majority of the world isn't remotely Christian...

Sure - How clever of you. It’s also the world’s largest religion by far. That alone says something about how deeply the message of Jesus resonates across cultures and centuries. Billions of people have found truth, hope, and transformation in Him. Not because they were born into it, but because the story holds up when you actually look into it.

Religion is not my jam, but isn't it a little... crass to talk about your deity like that? The evangelical industrial-scale proselytizing always seemed kinda disrespectful to the whole "finding truth, hope, and transformation in Him", like god-almighty needed a used car salesman to connect with people.

Plus, it's not the best moment to make this point considering that Mohamed is probably going overtake Jesus on the race in the next decade. I know, conversions are cooler than births, but the reality is the same (also conversions in LATAM are just raiding the Catholics for followers).

Re: Why aren't smart people happier?

#345

Post by machomaster »

mac3n wrote: post #163
mac3n wrote: post #156

> 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

also "Happy People: A Year in the Taiga", film by Werner Herzog

It was shot and directed by a totally different person, a famous Rusdian documentary director. 4 x 1h parts. It is absolutely glorious.

After the original movie was made, released and got successful, Werner Herzor made a deal with the director and edited 4 hours of original movie in half, while adding his commentary. He made it A LOT worse, sadly.

The only people who rave about it, are the ones who haven't seen the original. Please, do yourself a favor and watch it.

Perhaps the reason why Werner absolutely butchered the film was because he was so out of touch with the subject of happiness?..

Re: Why aren't smart people happier?

#347

Post by sssilver »

I’ve met a tremendous amount of very smart but miserable software engineers.

Most of them miserable because of utter lack of love in their lives.

In small part because they were snarky and egocentric, and in large part because they didn’t look that great by conventional standards.

Re: Why aren't smart people happier?

#348

Post by mancerayder »

johndhi wrote: post #316
jebarker wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me this has 100% been the main source of unhappiness in my life. I wish nobody had ever told me how smart I was as a child. The reality was that I was above average but in an unremarkable collection of kids mostly. I’ve done fine in life academically and career wise but I’ll never live up to the expectations that were planted in my head. Thankfully you can get over this/yourself and let go of ego, ambition, achie…

Lot of interesting views in this thread. One thing I loved from Osho (spiritual guru) is the notion that everyone thinks they are "extraordinary" but actually the happiest person is the person who is ordinary. Being ordinary and just eating breakfast and sleeping and doing a job is - in fact - extraordinarily rare.

The same Osho who ran an expensive cult in the 70s and 80s?

Putting that aside, it's hard for me to associate simple with happiness. That's the opposite of motivation, from my unenlightened perspective. It's hardly a rational or smart choice since not being challenged also makes one a bit narrower when it comes to seeking out new experiences. But even if you take the intellect out of it, it 'feels' wrong. And some things are challenging to achieve and bring fulfillment.

Re: Why aren't smart people happier?

#349

Post by socalgal2 »

anecdata but my experience on dating services is Christians, on average, look happy. No idea why. I'm atheist and not interested in dating a Christian because I could not support their beliefs. But, it's uncanny how often the pattern fits. I'm pretty confident, given 100 dating site profile photos, I can, far better than chance, guess which ones are Christian.

Note: I'm not saying Christians are happier than other religions. I live in the USA so there are more Christians than most other religions. I'm also not saying they actually are happier. I'm only saying they appear happier, on average, in their profile photos than the rest of the profiles. I find it very curious.

Re: Why aren't smart people happier?

#350

Post by SCAQTony »

Ignorance is bliss. Q.E.D. IMO, the more brain cells one has, the more neurotic one can be because the added bandwidth, compounded with being highly educated, gives one's imagination the horsepower to predict plenty of negative consequences. YMMV (be kind to me)
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