Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The Curse of Intelligence

duttakapil.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

1–10 of 15 posts

Re: The Curse of Intelligence

#2

Post by sparker72678 »

I feel for the author, as it seems they are going through an existential crisis. That’s rough, to say the least. Sounds like they might be on a path to finding some help, though.

I’d encourage the author to stash this one away and come back in 20 years and look at it again.

I think far more of what is examined is just part of the human condition, rather than anything to do with intelligence.

Re: The Curse of Intelligence

#5

Post by duttakapil »

sparker72678 wrote: post #2

I feel for the author, as it seems they are going through an existential crisis. That’s rough, to say the least. Sounds like they might be on a path to finding some help, though. I’d encourage the author to stash this one away and come back in 20 years and look at it again. I think far more of what is examined is just part of the human condition, rather than anything to do with intelligence.

Hello, author here.

I think I failed to communicate the core idea of the article here. Of course what I describe is a product of the human condition, my argument was simply that "intelligence" dials up that conditioning, resulting in the person being more prone to such suffering.

Everyone thinks, everyone questions, it's just that the intelligence tends to make you think and question a lot more, resulting more often in the separation of mind and body. There are many research studies on this subject as well, I mentioned one of them in the article : https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016028961....

The other part of the article was focused more on our higher expectation from such people around us, setting them up for greater disappointment. And the limitations of intelligence, how cognitive biases can creep in even if you are a highly rational person.

Also thank you for expressing your concern and kind words, I am not actually dealing with an existential crisis at the moment, although I have in the past :)

Re: The Curse of Intelligence

#8

Post by sureglymop »

duttakapil wrote: post #5
sparker72678 wrote: post #2

I feel for the author, as it seems they are going through an existential crisis. That’s rough, to say the least. Sounds like they might be on a path to finding some help, though. I’d encourage the author to stash this one away and come back in 20 years and look at it again. I think far more of what is examined is just part of the human condition, rather than anything to do with intelligence.

Hello, author here. I think I failed to communicate the core idea of the article here. Of course what I describe is a product of the human condition, my argument was simply that "intelligence" dials up that conditioning, resulting in the person being more prone to such suffering. Everyone thinks, everyone questions, it's just that the intelligence tends to make you think and question a lot more, resulting more often…

Intelligence is just the ability to think logically (at least as defined by iq). What you mean is probably overthinking, anxiety, etc.

Re: The Curse of Intelligence

#9

Post by danbmil99 »

This article resonates with me. However I have one beef. The author goes on to make some fuzzy claims about feeling your whole self, which I take to mean one's physical self, one's body.

But what if your body is failing? Then all you have really to depend on is your mind. I often wonder how Stephen Hawking managed to do such incredible work with such a limited physical existence. To some extent, we all become Stephen Hawking towards the end, unless the end is catastrophically quick.

Re: The Curse of Intelligence

#10

Post by ianai »

duttakapil wrote: post #5
sparker72678 wrote: post #2

I feel for the author, as it seems they are going through an existential crisis. That’s rough, to say the least. Sounds like they might be on a path to finding some help, though. I’d encourage the author to stash this one away and come back in 20 years and look at it again. I think far more of what is examined is just part of the human condition, rather than anything to do with intelligence.

Hello, author here. I think I failed to communicate the core idea of the article here. Of course what I describe is a product of the human condition, my argument was simply that "intelligence" dials up that conditioning, resulting in the person being more prone to such suffering. Everyone thinks, everyone questions, it's just that the intelligence tends to make you think and question a lot more, resulting more often…

You have a point with being aware of where the “you” ends and things out of “your influence” begin. Accepting that something’s can’t be changed is a good point to reflect that “your” happiness should come from internally - the external is a bonus. Failure to accept this puts others and external factors in control of “your” happiness.
Post reply on HN