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I've learned that the more intelligent you are the more models you know and the more trust you place in them being actual reality vs just being models. This lea

I've learned that the more intelligent you are the more models you know and the more trust you place in them being actual reality vs just being models. This leads to overconfidence in things being a certain way so when life calls for flexibility, your rigidity will make you suffer. Cynicism develops from this rigidity. Additionally, the more intelligent you are the more skilled you become at thinking about things logically. An intelligent person can convince themselves of anything using logic without realizing that all logic depends on unproven axioms and assumptions. Combined with cynicism, logic leads to a negative outlook on life that is hard to shake off.

colordrops 2mo ago
Sounds unintelligent to me. What's your definition of intelligent?
- whackernews 2mo ago
  Right? Lots of people all over this page to be describing autism rather than intelligence which I find slightly weird.
ip26 2mo ago
An intelligent person can convince themselves of anything Not to mention via shortcuts, reductionism, and other (ironically) lazy thinking. After all, they're too smart to take a shortcuts that lead them to the wrong answer, so if they took a shortcut it saved them effort and was also right!
n0on3 2mo ago
> _An intelligent person can convince themselves of anything_ I think it might be just the opposite: convincing yourself of things relies on exploiting limits for which very intelligent people have much higher threshold they might as well not have them. When it comes to happiness, it’s kind of a superpower which I think very intelligent people just don’t have because it fights against their intelligence by definition. It’s also something that I think happens unconsciously. It’s ironic, as you yourself provided a perfect example: a logic argument depending on unproven assumptions, if it lands in “convincing” yourself, exploits a limitation in accounting for the validity of the assumptions themselves (meaning: you believe it anyway). Assuming one could pick and choose the arguments (i.e., what to believe in) wouldn’t that trivially unlock happiness?
- phyzix5761 2mo ago
  People choose to believe what they desire and all desire eventually leads to disappointment and dissatisfaction. So, no, even if you could choose to convince yourself of whatever you want you're still not going to be happy. Also, people tend to pick the worst case scenario as a defense mechanism in most cases. If you really want to be happy you need to let go of your preferences; your desires and aversions.
  - ifwinterco 2mo ago
    The buddha figured that part out 7000 years ago but people just don't want to hear it for some reason

colordrops 2mo ago

Sounds unintelligent to me. What's your definition of intelligent?

whackernews 2mo ago
Right? Lots of people all over this page to be describing autism rather than intelligence which I find slightly weird.

ip26 2mo ago

An intelligent person can convince themselves of anything Not to mention via shortcuts, reductionism, and other (ironically) lazy thinking. After all, they're too smart to take a shortcuts that lead them to the wrong answer, so if they took a shortcut it saved them effort and was also right!

n0on3 2mo ago

> _An intelligent person can convince themselves of anything_ I think it might be just the opposite: convincing yourself of things relies on exploiting limits for which very intelligent people have much higher threshold they might as well not have them. When it comes to happiness, it’s kind of a superpower which I think very intelligent people just don’t have because it fights against their intelligence by definition. It’s also something that I think happens unconsciously. It’s ironic, as you yourself provided a perfect example: a logic argument depending on unproven assumptions, if it lands in “convincing” yourself, exploits a limitation in accounting for the validity of the assumptions themselves (meaning: you believe it anyway). Assuming one could pick and choose the arguments (i.e., what to believe in) wouldn’t that trivially unlock happiness?

phyzix5761 2mo ago
People choose to believe what they desire and all desire eventually leads to disappointment and dissatisfaction. So, no, even if you could choose to convince yourself of whatever you want you're still not going to be happy. Also, people tend to pick the worst case scenario as a defense mechanism in most cases. If you really want to be happy you need to let go of your preferences; your desires and aversions.
- ifwinterco 2mo ago
  The buddha figured that part out 7000 years ago but people just don't want to hear it for some reason