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Why aren't smart people happier? (2022)

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

#351

Post by smithniels »

basscomm wrote: post #135
irishcoffee wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It really isn’t. I haven’t watched the news on tv in probably 20 years, I haven’t had any social media accounts ever, and at this point I use the internet as part of my day job, to do my job. It is absolutely amazing to be so disconnected and I encourage everyone to try it. People at work tell me about interesting things happening in the world, and my role and my spouses role at her job have the (mis) fortune of keep…

> It really isn’t. I haven’t watched the news on tv in probably 20 years It's frequently beneficial to know what's happening in the world around you, even though possessing a sense of empathy can make knowing what's happening in the world around you unpleasant.

Okay I'll bite, in your opinion what are the benefits?

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

#352

Post by pmarreck »

gsinclair wrote: post #314
torginus wrote: post #256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I got labeled "smart but lazy" at a pretty young age (high test scores, didn't do any homework), and I let that label stick with me for far too long I just never understood why the secondary education system is set up to make smart and lazy people succeed without effort while the hardworking, but less gifted kids struggle. It just gives you an impression that life is much easier than it is, and you can BS your way…

An alternative design for an education system is quite a challenge. You say it allows smart but lazy people to succeed. In truth, it allows many kinds of people to succeed. And “the hardworking but less gifted kids struggle” doesn’t ring particularly true, unless you mean something quite strong by “less gifted”.

> An alternative design for an education system is quite a challenge.

How about some tweaks, then?

Here's the problem as I see it. People seem designed to work together, but school isolates everyone. The people who are natural leaders, natural persuaders, natural consensus-distillers, natural "dig deep into a hard problem to solve it" people SHOULD NOT need to wait until 22 fucking years old to discover that "the hard way" at "real work"!!

There were SCANT FEW group projects when I grew up, but they all stick out in my memory because it was suddenly abundantly clear who was better at what and that we had to work together! And the best part is that riding coattails becomes immediately noticeable and socially punished.

We need MORE experiences in school where people actually NEED to use their gifts to succeed TOGETHER. Exactly like at a job in real life! But their parents apparently won't have that!

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

#353

Post by Alien1Being »

In my experience who live and work with smart people, and make smart decisions about their personal lives and families are pretty happy .

You can have a high IQ and make really stupid personal decisions.

Albert Einstein was notorious for this . He made catastrophic personal decisions that destroyed his families. His various wives and numerous mistresses ended up despising him and his son ended up in an asylum .

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

#354

Post by ashray »

alexpotato wrote: post #300

There is an excellent blog post from [0] a guy who, due to a circulatory issue, ended up temporarily dropping down in IQ. In summary, he felt much happier b/c he wasn't constantly seeing broken systems everywhere and feeling frustrated that they needed to be fixed. Great read and highly recommend. 0 - https://web.archive.org/web/20120508004058/http://garrysub.p...

Another great and somewhat sad read is Flowers for Algernon.

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

#355

Post by kdjdiwjdiej »

xpct wrote: post #183
HDBaseT wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That seems like some gatekeeping egoistical hi-ground. I refuse to believe the average person here is any more intelligent than the average person on the street.

I don't think it's egoistical. I understand it's often uncomfortable to compare people by their intelligence, but by many measures of 'smart', people here have it, more often than not.

Nah, people here often have knowledge in varied but very niche subjects, but because this is the place for niche subjects, you can always find a handful of people knowledgeable on any given subject.

Plus, it’s fairly common to see people saying the most amazingly simple things but with big words, fancy terms, heavy phrasing and all that just to sound that little bit smarter.

None of that tells me people here are more intelligent than the average Joe walking by living their life. Just that people here flock on posts with subjects they enjoy or know a bit about.

It’s very easy to sound intelligent, all you have to do is leave people confused with a bit of theatre and misdirection (oh, and a dash of arrogance!). True intelligence, though, is owning what you don’t know. True intelligence is not trying to make everyone around you feel dumber so you can be the clever clogs.

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

#356

Post by kdjdiwjdiej »

duskdozer wrote: post #325
ifwinterco wrote: post #299

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Humans simply didn't evolve to be connected to a constant firehose of random information. I firmly believe that even the smartest person will become an idiot if they just scroll X all day

Well, yeah, that's Musk's propaganda outlet. That's not synonymous with "news" though.

Potato, potahto.

X is the same as Instagram, that’s the same as reddit, that’s the same as HN.

The difference is in what flavour of propaganda are you most interest in and what type of bullshit are you willing to swallow.

Let’s not pretend X is bad because of Musk alone. HN can be just as terrible too.

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

#357

Post by teekert »

Because you can be smart about 1 thing, but have all the wrong assumptions in life. I.e. just must deeply believe that it is your right to seek hapiness, not that you must adhere to what people generally believe is the optimal way to exist in your culture.

Such realizations require experience, wisdom, contemplation. Not whatever leads to a high IQ.

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

#359

Post by kdjdiwjdiej »

arbirk wrote: post #15

I live by "everything is grey". I am interestingly smart in some niche domains that I have a hard time communicating exists. I also insist on not fitting any template. Pretty dumb, right?

Are you expecting some kind of positive reinforcement by saying this or were you just hoping to humble brags and leave it at that? Some applause maybe?

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

#360

Post by dcchuck »

Bertrand Russell wrote a text which touches on this exact subject, The Conquest of Happiness [1].

Ignore the hyperbole of the "who should read it". In my opinion, it is his thoughts on happiness from his own life. Some of it is dated, but I found it a relaxing and rational take on the topic.

[1] https://www.amazon.com/Conquest-Happiness-Bertrand-Russell/d...

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