Why Intelligent People Tend to be Unhappy

Yeah, somewhere along the line this thread took a wrong turn and landed in the pits of Hades.

The question becomes whether the starter of the thread would like us to deep six it or try to clean it up.

I have learned that there are certain religious entities (who shall remain nameless) that enjoy derailing threads for their own means. Unfortunately I have come to expect it.

If someone else would like to try to wrassle this thing back on topic, then feel free, but I wouldn't know where to begin.

yeah at this point--what could one do but start a thread -- Gayness--curse or blessing?

uh, oh, I can feel my IQ diminishing, I just laughed

Intelligent people tend to realize how vain this world is after all.... mere energy streams.... and as an ignorant person you just don't get so many things, and as the phrase goes "simple minds, simple pleasures"....it isn't much of a challenge to be pleased as an ignorant..get some beer, cry for the girlfriend that just left you and get another one.... bah

Intelligent people tend to be curious and skeptic about many things. They feel sad for not many people emphasize with 'em.

It seems logical enough... (you live, you affect your world)

-Infernity

Intelligent people are unhappy? I don't know about that. I know lots of intelligent people who are happy and successful. I think the that as long as you achieve the goals you have set out in life you are happy otherwise you are not. Maybe more intelligent people have higher goals and don't always reach those goals so they are less happy. They could also just be disenfranchised with this world and it's conservative archaic views. I tend to view most Intelligent people as being mavericks and their views clash with the rest of society usually so they end up causing a lot of trouble for themselves.

Yeah, I would also have to disagree that more intelligent people tend to be unhappy. I think that I am a little sharper than most of the "crowd" (excluding this crowd, because most here are sharper than the rest of their "crowds" )... and this is because -like many others here- I grew up with a loving family who supported my inquisitive nature and only helped fuel my curiosity. I love learning, reading, taking things apart, building things... you name it, and as most people would agree that pretty little streaks of paint on a canvas are art (which I agree with), I also have to claim that I view the electrical phenomena, geometry, calculus, and computer programming as equally beautiful, I see them as art just the same... as long as there is new code to write, new things to build, and new shapes and formulas to comprehend... I will be happy.

I think that the more a person knows, the higher their happy-potential goes. The more that they can understand, the more they can appreciate something. For instance, if someone doesn't understand the inner workings of their cell phone, they just see it as a nice little novelty... but if you understand the nature of transistors, electromagnetic waves, and gallium nitride... etc, you can truly appreciate the complexity of the device, and appreciate the many hundreds of thousands of man-hours in research that have been invested in the component technologies...

I think that if someone who is intelligent feels unhappy as a result of their intelligence has either proven there is no escape from heat death, or would be equally unhappy as a dumber person... it just has to do with their personality

Adi

Intelligent people tend to realize how vain this world is after all.... mere energy streams.... and as an ignorant person you just don't get so many things, and as the phrase goes "simple minds, simple pleasures"....it isn't much of a challenge to be pleased as an ignorant..get some beer, cry for the girlfriend that just left you and get another one.... bah

I drink beer [cry]

although on a serious note, I have to completely agree with the latter part of your statement. most people say they "love" the person they're with and will always..bal bla bla. But when the rubber hits the road, they move on and divorce, breakup and sometimes even progress to a deep and profound hatred of the one they initially said they'd love "forever". How is this so?

unfortunately, evolutionary psych provides yet another glimpse into the fickle and ever changing human emotional landscape. love, like many other quantifiable emotions, has its underpinnings in a far less romantic realm....evolution, reproduction, and survival.

This is reality, and sometimes reality is unsavory.

I think that the more a person knows, the higher their happy-potential goes

I agree...to a point. I think Gibrahn said it best in The Prophet; "your joy is your sorrow unmasked, and the selfsame well from which your laughter rises, was oftentimes filled with your tears"

I think Gibrahn said it best in The Prophet; "your joy is your sorrow unmasked, and the selfsame well from which your laughter rises, was oftentimes filled with your tears"

Ah, the Prophet. I went to a school that was structured to teach students the lessons of the Prophet in 24 hour long sessions (sometimes longer) called Phropheets (that might be mispelled). That is supposed to mean: "feet for the Prophet."

Anyways, you're not supposed to take stuff out of Propheets, but since the school has been shut down...

The first Propheet is called "The Truth."

One lesson we were supposed to walk away with is that "to the same degree you feel your joy, it's the same degree you feel your sorrow." The idea is reinforced by a pendulum:



I will now quote Kahlil Gibran; on Joy and Sorrow:

On Joy & Sorrow

Then a woman said, "Speak to us of Joy and Sorrow."

And he answered:

Your joy is your sorrow unmasked.

And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with your tears.

And how else can it be?

The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.

Is not the cup that hold your wine the very cup that was burned in the potter's oven?

And is not the lute that soothes your spirit, the very wood that was hollowed with knives?

When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy.

When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.

Some of you say, "Joy is greater than sorrow," and others say, "Nay, sorrow is the greater."

But I say unto you, they are inseparable.

Together they come, and when one sits alone with you at your board, remember that the other is asleep upon your bed.

Verily you are suspended like scales between your sorrow and your joy.

Only when you are empty are you at standstill and balanced.

When the treasure-keeper lifts you to weigh his gold and his silver, needs must your joy or your sorrow rise or fall.

If you feel no sorrow, you may feel no joy.

I have simply got used to the thought that my life is gone be mostly grey, but the occasional thrills is yet going to make it worth living.

Happiness is overestimated, this life is abbot intense thrills, how will remember the happy passive times any way?

I find time to have intensive happy thrills every day, course it helps having a hottie husband...

back when I was religious (under age 12) I thought that God would give me an easy happy life after going through hard times-- kind the same philosophy of you have to have sad to know happy

I just don't wait for things to happen anymore, I know I must attenuate it myself. (long term goals and short term)

I really don't think intelligence bears much on happiness as personally I think we are genetically pre-disposed to different levels--and what happens to us in life/environmentally has little bearing. (due to lottery winner studies, Holocaust survivor accounts, and all sorts of historical and modern examples)

back when I was religious (under age 12) I thought that God would give me an easy happy life after going through hard times-- kind the same philosophy of you have to have sad to know happy

that’s not it. some people seem to be moderately happy all the time, will some people get all there ruses at ones. I really prefer the second alternative that is grey and ecstasy before medium grey all the time. the thing is some things doesn’t appeal to me I simply cant bar with it. I’m almost provoked by people claiming that they are “happy” when they do nothing.

I find time to have intensive happy thrills every day, course it helps having a hottie husband...

back when I was religious (under age 12) I thought that God would give me an easy happy life after going through hard times-- kind the same philosophy of you have to have sad to know happy

I just don't wait for things to happen anymore, I know I must attenuate it myself.  (long term goals and short term)

I really don't think intelligence bears much on happiness as personally I think we are genetically pre-disposed to different levels--and what happens to us in life/environmentally has little bearing.    (due to lottery winner studies, Holocaust survivor accounts, and all sorts of historical and modern examples)

Bingo!

There are a few people here who everytime they post, they just speak pure brilliance, and i think you are most certainly one of them wing girl.

i am, on average, a very happy person. On one hand I say that I am happy because everything in my life is so good. On the other hand, everything in my life is so good because i approach it with the right attitude. What actually happens usually has only a minimal bearing on happiness.

Everyone here has no doubt heard all of the stories of some random person with some terrible disease, but they always seem happy and a true inspiration to us all.... Why are they happy? I sincerely doubt they are happy because they are diseased, and I just as strongly doubt that their happiness has anything to do with their intelligence.... Plus then we all know plenty of stories who have everything, money, power, any person they want, and they are miserable.

I know it is a difficult concept to swallow, but the evidence really does indicate that 'reality', the way things actually are and what is actually happening, has very little relevent to happiness.

ahh my husband woed me with his broad room-filling laugh, and confident nature. I was banking on my love of 'The Astonishing Hypothesis' to think he'd just stay that way--lo and behold--he has! However to stay in thread, he also woed me with his 160 IQ, and strong drive/energy, but he certainly is happy--and even though he takes more of an environmental bent than I--I'm glad that he's really controlled by his genes... I love loving

Wiki - Eudaimonism

elijah3: All I said was the Nazis liked Nietzsche's writings. I didn't say anything on what Nietzsche said about the German politics of his day or whether his writings were fully consistent with Nazism.

Again, I feel the need to correct you. It really is a waste of my time, but I can't let such a poisonous opinion linger on the forum without being confronted. It is not that Nietzsche's writings aren't "fully consistent", they AREN'T AT ALL CONSISTENT. Stop trying to spin things in an intellectually dishonest manner.

If all you were saying is that somtimes Nazis like the writings of Nietzsche then there is no reason for you to have made this point in the first place (other than to try and create the illusion of a relationship being there when it isn't). Nazis not understanding Nietzsche and falsely believing that they like what he's saying tell us nothing about the true nature of Nietzsche's perspective. People can interpret things in all sorts of bizarre ways - this doesn't mean that they're right. In order for us to make an accurate assessment in that regard we must analyze their arguments.

Do you know how much I could throw this back at you by taking examples of your precious bible being used by "evil" people to justify their actions? Sweet baby jeezus! That's all you do on these forums is constantly complain about how your bible is being misinterpreted! Talk about pot and the f-ing kettle.

You've artfully twisted my statement and have evaded the main point of the issue which is that Nietzsche identified with the master morality or the Roman conqueror mentality as the Nazi did too.

Wrong wrong wrong. wrong.

Clearly you don't understand what master morality is, which means that you are writing from ignorance. So, for the last time, master morality does not = roman conqueror or nazi mentality. Please stop embarrassing yourself by making erroneous correlations which only go to demonstrate your ignorance.

After coming into contact with a religious man I always feel I must wash my hands. ~ Nietzsche

Back onto the subject of happiness. I do not believe that there is necessarily a link between happiness and intelligence.

There are probably a lot of factors that go into whether one is happy, ranging from genetic predisposition to whether goals are successfully being met.

For me, the high level of intellectual seriousness that I possess prevents me from being too happy about our human condition. I'm not that old, but already I get the sense of time and how most, if not all, relationships are transient. Of course, this is just a personal perspective. I'm willing to bet that there are many people out there who have had very long term relationship, life time relationships, that would make them challenge my assertion. But for me, I can look at pictures from a few years ago and remember how things were, and how people move on, and how social relationships are really just an existential comfort that blind us to the reality that in a way we are alone in our existence.

Yet being social and yearning for companionship is hardwired into us. Almost all of us seek it out, much like drug addicts searching for their fix. These "lower level" social imperatives (goals) can in some cases conflict with higher level goals. (eg, expanding your understanding of reality, striving towards ultra-intelligence, etc). This conflict produces a state of torment.

I'm not sure if anyone here can relate to what I'm saying. I could elaborate further, but why pollute everyone else with my gloominess? [lol] I suppose that happiness is a highy personal matter.

Wrong wrong wrong.  wrong.

Clearly you don't understand what master morality is, which means that you are writing from ignorance.  So, for the last time, master morality does not = roman conqueror or nazi mentality.  Please stop embarrassing yourself by making erroneous correlations which only go to demonstrate your ignorance.

Faith is characterized ignorance and erronous correlations. Elijah, along with others like him, will always attempt to twist the truth, either consciously or unconsciously, in order to protect their diseased mental constructs. Any acceptence of truth undermines their meticulously constructed ediface of religious belief.

Intelligence can be isolating.

I don't feel that I fit into my peer group as well as I could if I were more like them, more able to enjoy the things that they enjoy.

I don't know whether what I refer to in my case is natural intelligence or education - I certainly have the potential to do some idiotic things. However I place a high value on knowledge and learning and have pushed myself into a state somewhat precocious.

However, having a wider world view is certainly not something I would turn my back on. The thrill of applying cultivated intellectual abilities is a self-validating joy in its own right and is more deeply rewarding in the long term than any boozed up self destructive night out could be, which is the full extent of the aims and pastimes of my peers.

This path visibly progresses, both in terms of development and career considerations. All in all, there is no way that I would wish to be as limited in scope as that entity the general public. One downside to this is frustration at the things the public do and the inability to apply basic rationality that one takes for granted.

I think that although long term happiness is boosted by my particular situation of intelligence/education/high aspirations, short term happiness can occassionally take a hit - there are very few people that I feel I can relate to and fully share visions or interests with. This is a problem when thinking about relationships and so on - which biologically are probably quite important for happiness at the age I am now (21). There are people who I can feel kinship with, but they're uniformly several years older, absolutely can't raise enthusiasm for people with an average 21 year old life view.

Not that I'm usually any less than completely happy, I just happened to stumble upon this thread in a vaguely morbid mood at 1:30am!