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We haven't established that intelligence should imply happiness. We haven't even established that intelligence should imply the desire to be happy. If intellige

by z5h 4y ago

We haven't established that intelligence should imply happiness. We haven't even established that intelligence should imply the desire to be happy. If intelligence enables a person to identify problems, and problems make a person unhappy, then an intelligent person will have at least one factor that tends to increase unhappiness.

lukas099 4y ago
> We haven't even established that intelligence should imply the desire to be happy. Most people desire to be happy. I don't believe I need to prove this. The point was that we should be able to use our intelligence to identify and resolve issues that decrease our happiness. I think this is true to a certain extent, but there is an upper limit where solvable problems are not the limiting factor to our happiness.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- dimmke 4y ago
  >Most people desire to be happy. I don't believe I need to prove this. Happy isn't a long term state of being. It's a short term emotion like anger or sadness. If you expect to feel that way all the time, and think you can achieve that through some kind of changes to your life you are setting yourself up for failure. You should aim to build a life that is in line with your values, and accept that you're going to have down days. If you were to rate each day on a 1-10 scale, you're going to have 2s and 3s and probably some 8s and 9s. But if you've done the work, most days will be a solid 6 or 7. And therapy. Therapy really helps. I think everybody should go to therapy.
  - Towaway69 4y ago
    > And therapy. Therapy really helps. I think everybody should go to therapy Friends. I think everyone should have good friends they can talk to. If not, then go to therapy.
    - dimmke 4y ago
      I think therapy provides benefits that friends don't/can't. Your therapist shouldn't be your friend. They're an objective outsider that can help give you new ways to think about your life.
      - Towaway69 4y ago
        Some problems don't need a therapist, e.g. Problems with people can be best dealt with (sometimes) by talking to those very same people. I guess that's what I meant, some problems simply need good friends.
    - noNothing 4y ago
      If you go the therapist route, please change therapists until you find one that works well for you. Not all therapists work well with all people. Theoretically they should, but practilally they don't and the wrong therapist can be worse than no therapist.
      - dimmke 4y ago
        Good disclaimer. I 100% agree.
    - lukas099 4y ago
      A lot of friends are terrible therapists. They give bad advice, advice when you don't need it, victim-blame you (e.g. Job's friends from the Bible), etc. These can even be otherwise good friends.
  - periphrasis 4y ago
    > Happy isn't a long term state of being. It's a short term emotion like anger or sadness. Counter point: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eudaimonia https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eudaimonia
  - david-gpu 4y ago
    > Happy isn't a long term state of being. It's a short term emotion like anger or sadness. "Happy" is a vague overused term that means different things to different people at different times. While elation or euphoria are fleeting emotions, one can be content or satisfied for prolonged periods of time. It's a bit like confusing sadness and depression.
    - karmakaze 4y ago
      > one can be content or satisfied for prolonged periods of time This is suspect. I couldn't imagine that any contentment or satisfaction that I experience now would last without additional activity to maintain it. The passage of time while doing nothing (or having no affect) is a clear way I can imagine leading to dissatisfaction.
- brookst 4y ago
  > The point was that we should be able to use our intelligence to identify and resolve issues that decrease our happiness It's a nice thought, and maybe it works that way at some higher level of intelligence than what I've got... but for me, what intelligence I've got gets me into a lot of the situations that decrease happiness.
- z5h 4y ago
  > Most people desire to be happy. Right. Of course. Evolution has designed us to desire to be happy, but to be unhappy (to some degree, at some times). Otherwise we'd have no drive to do anything ever. Some degree of unhappiness coupled with the desire to increase happiness is a state we should often expect in a healthy, intelligent individual. A state of unassailable optimal happiness should probably be pathologized (if it isn't already so).
- s1artibartfast 4y ago
  >Most people desire to be happy. I don't believe I need to prove this. Yes, but it is not all people want. Humans have a long list of values which can conflict with happiness. Hedonism is a very popular philosophy at the moment, but it is not the only one, and other objectives often influence our daily lives. It is possible that the optimal solution to these other values are in conflict.
- eternityforest 4y ago
  How many problems do you have that would be solved with greater intelligence alone? Greater intelligence plus years of study and hundreds of job applications might fix someone's material situation, but just being smart doesn't guarantee it will happen. Enhanced ability to perform repeatable actions and responses is probably correlated with happiness though.
sureglymop 4y ago
A mistake we sometimes make is to assume that intelligent also = good. But intelligence doesn't imply that a person is e.g. social, empathetic, ethically responsible etc.
- boringg 4y ago
  There are many forms of intelligence. Also much of the behavior your are talking about is learned behavior.
charles_f 4y ago
I think the article is pretty badly named, it makes a quick remark of "you consider yourself smart so you should be able to fix your happiness problem" then moves on to other, unrelated points around unhappiness at work.

by z5h 4y ago

lukas099 4y ago

> We haven't even established that intelligence should imply the desire to be happy. Most people desire to be happy. I don't believe I need to prove this. The point was that we should be able to use our intelligence to identify and resolve issues that decrease our happiness. I think this is true to a certain extent, but there is an upper limit where solvable problems are not the limiting factor to our happiness.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
dimmke 4y ago
>Most people desire to be happy. I don't believe I need to prove this. Happy isn't a long term state of being. It's a short term emotion like anger or sadness. If you expect to feel that way all the time, and think you can achieve that through some kind of changes to your life you are setting yourself up for failure. You should aim to build a life that is in line with your values, and accept that you're going to have down days. If you were to rate each day on a 1-10 scale, you're going to have 2s and 3s and probably some 8s and 9s. But if you've done the work, most days will be a solid 6 or 7. And therapy. Therapy really helps. I think everybody should go to therapy.
- Towaway69 4y ago
  > And therapy. Therapy really helps. I think everybody should go to therapy Friends. I think everyone should have good friends they can talk to. If not, then go to therapy.
  - dimmke 4y ago
    I think therapy provides benefits that friends don't/can't. Your therapist shouldn't be your friend. They're an objective outsider that can help give you new ways to think about your life.
    - Towaway69 4y ago
      Some problems don't need a therapist, e.g. Problems with people can be best dealt with (sometimes) by talking to those very same people. I guess that's what I meant, some problems simply need good friends.
  - noNothing 4y ago
    If you go the therapist route, please change therapists until you find one that works well for you. Not all therapists work well with all people. Theoretically they should, but practilally they don't and the wrong therapist can be worse than no therapist.
    - dimmke 4y ago
      Good disclaimer. I 100% agree.
  - lukas099 4y ago
    A lot of friends are terrible therapists. They give bad advice, advice when you don't need it, victim-blame you (e.g. Job's friends from the Bible), etc. These can even be otherwise good friends.
- periphrasis 4y ago
  > Happy isn't a long term state of being. It's a short term emotion like anger or sadness. Counter point: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eudaimonia https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eudaimonia
- david-gpu 4y ago
  > Happy isn't a long term state of being. It's a short term emotion like anger or sadness. "Happy" is a vague overused term that means different things to different people at different times. While elation or euphoria are fleeting emotions, one can be content or satisfied for prolonged periods of time. It's a bit like confusing sadness and depression.
  - karmakaze 4y ago
    > one can be content or satisfied for prolonged periods of time This is suspect. I couldn't imagine that any contentment or satisfaction that I experience now would last without additional activity to maintain it. The passage of time while doing nothing (or having no affect) is a clear way I can imagine leading to dissatisfaction.
brookst 4y ago
> The point was that we should be able to use our intelligence to identify and resolve issues that decrease our happiness It's a nice thought, and maybe it works that way at some higher level of intelligence than what I've got... but for me, what intelligence I've got gets me into a lot of the situations that decrease happiness.
z5h 4y ago
> Most people desire to be happy. Right. Of course. Evolution has designed us to desire to be happy, but to be unhappy (to some degree, at some times). Otherwise we'd have no drive to do anything ever. Some degree of unhappiness coupled with the desire to increase happiness is a state we should often expect in a healthy, intelligent individual. A state of unassailable optimal happiness should probably be pathologized (if it isn't already so).
s1artibartfast 4y ago
>Most people desire to be happy. I don't believe I need to prove this. Yes, but it is not all people want. Humans have a long list of values which can conflict with happiness. Hedonism is a very popular philosophy at the moment, but it is not the only one, and other objectives often influence our daily lives. It is possible that the optimal solution to these other values are in conflict.
eternityforest 4y ago
How many problems do you have that would be solved with greater intelligence alone? Greater intelligence plus years of study and hundreds of job applications might fix someone's material situation, but just being smart doesn't guarantee it will happen. Enhanced ability to perform repeatable actions and responses is probably correlated with happiness though.

sureglymop 4y ago

A mistake we sometimes make is to assume that intelligent also = good. But intelligence doesn't imply that a person is e.g. social, empathetic, ethically responsible etc.

boringg 4y ago
There are many forms of intelligence. Also much of the behavior your are talking about is learned behavior.

charles_f 4y ago

I think the article is pretty badly named, it makes a quick remark of "you consider yourself smart so you should be able to fix your happiness problem" then moves on to other, unrelated points around unhappiness at work.