I've changed my mind on this idea. Being surrounded by very intelligent people (or, similar ones to myself) has never made me feel any less lonely than would ot

I've changed my mind on this idea. Being surrounded by very intelligent people (or, similar ones to myself) has never made me feel any less lonely than would other people. I think our expectations qua relating to others are out of step with reality, and I also think we're mistakenly attributing some of these feelings to there being too few like-minded people. Ultimately I've come to find that little differences make others interesting and fun to be around. Notwithstanding that people have different social needs, realistically, meeting them is not the hard part, provided you aren't withdrawing from engagement. I meet most of my social needs just by having a romantic partner, and I was profoundly lonely on and off for over a decade. There are other factors at work in my view. When we're in a bad spot it is difficult to parse and make sense of what is wrong. We view the world through the lens of our emotions and feeling depressed doesn't seem practically distinguishable than feeling lonely. This is a vulnerable state because we can get stuck in loops informed by cognitive distortions, by untruths. A matter-of-fact approach to improving wellness -- a foundation of CBT principles, healthy regimen (including sunlight and D3) and diet -- I think quells these pangs enough to allow more mental clarity in working through it. In my case, a better foundation as described did most of the work, but I subsequently resolved to kick a porn addiction (can lead to lower baseline levels of dopamine, which makes you unmotivated), and find a bit more meaning in projects and work, rather than allocating as much time to social media / consumption. All of which to say, particularly if you are single, it's important to get out there and talk to people, but don't expect that to be a silver bullet for dealing with that sense of loneliness and lack of meaning. At the least it can offer moral support, but in those cases when other people aren't making you feel better, I expect that a lack of social contact isn't the problem to fix (or, not the only one).