# Why Intelligent People tend to be Unhappy (an article)



## mnemonicfx (Sep 5, 2010)

Attached a PDF article about this.

Agree / disagree ?

Personally, I don't agree.
It may be the case for poor countries, but the wealthiest countries enjoy more intellectual freedom.


----------



## ShadowPlay (Feb 24, 2010)

Oohhh, That's kind of depressing.

If you were truly intelligent, an active seeker of knowledge, there is a vast amount of valid research other on methods of coping, as well as ways to increase of beneficently use Emotional Intelligence, which is a fluid form of intelligence unlike I.Q. 

Surely they would eventually cross this stuff and be able to adapt it to their lives? 

p.s. thanks for the article and topic. It's an interesting discussion point!


----------



## mnemonicfx (Sep 5, 2010)

I witness some people who are more intelligent than me, and they seem to be more depressed than myself. Even though there's not much problem with their economic condition. Some of them are even wealthy.

I really do think with wealth and intelligence you can do almost anything.


----------



## Erbse (Oct 15, 2010)

It's pretty spot on from my experiences. Though, it's not that intelligent people remain outsiders for the rest of their lives, but they typically *choose* to not surround them with a non befitting environment and chances are the average will not live up to their view of what is befitting.

Some may take it as snobbishness, I for one respect it however.

Just because you have intellectual freedom in industrial countries it 's no different from idiots across the globe, they will not get your point and/or understand your way of thinking, nationality hardly has any impact there. Most education systems are a joke and being book smart isn't an indication of intelligence in my book.


----------



## Raichan (Jul 15, 2010)

For some reason, I suddenly remember a quote I read when I was a kid,'' Happiness comes from good health and bad memory'' *LOL * :crazy:


> Hemingway, who took his own life in 1961, knew his share of both intelligent peo
> ple and of unhappiness. He lived through two world wars, the Great Depression, f
> our wives and an unknown number of failed romantic relationships, none of which
> would help him to develop happiness if he knew how


.

Was his depression triggered from the suffering he had seen in wars?



> Education systems in countries whose primary interest is in wealth accumulation
> encourage heroes in movies, war and sports, but not in intellectual development.
> Super intelligent people manage, but few reach the top of the business or socia
> l ladder.


Might be irrelevant, but what about extremely intelligent sociopaths who reach the top of social ladders?

How do you define a 'social ladder' anyway? Surely not everyone gets happiness from being at the top of the ''social ladder.''




> Children develop along four streams: intellectual, physical, emotional (psycholo
> gical) and social. In classrooms, the smartest kids tend to be left out of more
> activities by other children than they are included in. They are "odd," they are
> the geeks, they are social outsiders.


However, often after high school, a number of the ''geeks'' are grateful that they haven't ended up like the ''popular kids'' in certain cases. Especially when they exceed in terms of material and societal competition (i.e. intellect based stuff)



> Their emotional development, characterized by their ability to cope with risky or stressful situations, especially over long periods of time, also lags behind that of the average person. Adults tend to believe that intelligent kids can deal with anything because they are intellectually superior. This inevitably includes situations where the intelligent kids have neither knowledge nor skills to support their experience. They go through the tough times alone. Adults don't understand that they need help and other kids don't want to associate with kids the social leaders say are outsiders. As a result we have many highly intelligent people whose social development proresses much slower than that of most people and they have trouble coping with the stressors of life that present themselves to everyone. It should come as no surprise that the vast majority of prison inmates are socially and emotionally underdeveloped or maldeveloped and a larger than average percentage of them are more intelligent than the norm. Western society provides the ideal incubator for social misfits and those with emotional coping problems. When it comes to happiness, people who are socially inept and who have trouble coping emotionally with the exigencies of life would not be among those you should expect to be happy. This may be changing in the 21st century as the geeks gain recognition as people with great potential, especially as people who might make their fortune in the world of high technology. Geeks may be more socially accepted than in the past,
> but unless they receive more assistance with their social and emotional development, most are destined to be unhappy as they mature in the world of adults.



Okay, first of all, there are different kinds of intelligence.

Even if one were highly intelligent in certain areas, one would also need to learn adaptability, discipline and being progress oriented in order to be happy. 

People are enduring beings, even if they lack in certain areas, they can still find progress from their own strengths and still find how such other skills help them adapt to situations they would naturally have trouble adapting to. 

Happiness may be natural, but it is earned. You don't just go,'' oh wow I'm intelligent, meaning I can't be happy like everyone else!'' Life doesn't work that way.


----------



## ShadowPlay (Feb 24, 2010)

One point the article surprisingly forgot to draw on is the additional correlation between high intelligence and higher levels of mental illness. 
For example, OCD, Autism spectrum disorder, depression, anxiety (although the author did use prisons as a example, and I would further argue schizophrenia, anti-social personality disorder and other personality disorders here), surely these would speculatively decrease happiness, or cause somewhat of a breakdown in emotional coping resources ie, social networks, reflection vs rumination. Chicken or the egg? On the other hand, it could be speculated that people with low I.Q. AND specific types of mental disorders seem to be happier, namely, down's syndrome or williams syndrome report to be happier than the average population.

I'm sure there will be articles out there on the correlations of I.Q and happiness,
I'll find them when I get a chance but right now I'm procrastinating and must get back to it.

I'd doubt that IQ is strictly causational, more likely one an predispositional factors which needs deficits in other situational and environmental areas interplaying simultaneously to result in overall unhappiness. 
I don't think being smart dooms you to unhappiness.


----------



## mnemonicfx (Sep 5, 2010)

Erbse said:


> It's pretty spot on from my experiences. Though, it's not that intelligent people remain outsiders for the rest of their lives, but they typically *choose* to not surround them with a non befitting environment and chances are the average will not live up to their view of what is befitting.
> 
> Some may take it as snobbishness, I for one respect it however.
> 
> Just because you have intellectual freedom in industrial countries it 's no different from idiots across the globe, they will not get your point and/or understand your way of thinking, nationality hardly has any impact there. Most education systems are a joke and being book smart isn't an indication of intelligence in my book.


That's right.

Actually, I read the article because I could sympathize with the unhappiness feeling of being not understood by people around me.

But, I point out an inaccuracy in the article which is "western society", and comparing the overall wealth and freedom of western society to others. Based on this, I conclude that the intelligent people that was observed by this writer/researcher do not live up to the potential that they have.

I probably missed out on a few intelligent people that was really unfortunate or being treated unfairly.

Also, it's right that some intelligent people choose to remain in their position (not attracted by social ladder and influence).


----------



## mnemonicfx (Sep 5, 2010)

izzie said:


> For some reason, I suddenly remember a quote I read when I was a kid,'' Happiness comes from good health and bad memory'' *LOL * :crazy:.


That could be right.



izzie said:


> Was his depression triggered from the suffering he had seen in wars?


Maybe, it could be a factor.



izzie said:


> Might be irrelevant, but what about extremely intelligent sociopaths who reach the top of social ladders?


I don't know any. Maybe, because they're sociopath. They could blend in with others in certain social condition.



izzie said:


> How do you define a 'social ladder' anyway? Surely not everyone gets happiness from being at the top of the ''social ladder.''


The typical definition. Social accomplishments: money, rewards, certificate, praise, status.



izzie said:


> However, often after high school, a number of the ''geeks'' are grateful that they haven't ended up like the ''popular kids'' in certain cases. Especially when they exceed in terms of material and societal competition (i.e. intellect based stuff)


Yes, if they're wealthy or at least belong to the upper-middle class, which most intelligent people are (CMIIW). Again, I emphasized "economic" condition as a bigger factor of unhappiness compared to intelligence.



izzie said:


> Happiness may be natural, but it is earned. You don't just go,'' oh wow I'm intelligent, meaning I can't be happy like everyone else!'' Life doesn't work that way
> .


They just have a different degree of happiness. They probably do not see themselves as intelligent, but people consider them as intelligent. They could see more negative things more than other people.

But, again their intelligence is "a factor", but I tend to think there is another factor besides intelligence as a cause of the unhappiness.


----------



## mnemonicfx (Sep 5, 2010)

ShadowPlay said:


> One point the article surprisingly forgot to draw on is the additional correlation between high intelligence and higher levels of mental illness.
> For example, OCD, Autism spectrum disorder, depression, anxiety (although the author did use prisons as a example, and I would further argue schizophrenia, anti-social personality disorder and other personality disorders here), surely these would speculatively decrease happiness, or cause somewhat of a breakdown in emotional coping resources ie, social networks, reflection vs rumination. Chicken or the egg? On the other hand, it could be speculated that people with low I.Q. AND specific types of mental disorders seem to be happier, namely, down's syndrome or williams syndrome report to be happier than the average population.


Yes, that's also a great topic: Correlation of Mental Illness with High Intelligence.

I recognized some symtomps of asperger syndrome (high functioning autism) in myself. 

Some people with high IQ have deficiencies in other areas. But there are also those who are intelligent, and socially adaptive. But, unfortunately those who are socially adaptive tend to be the people outside the subject of research.

The research tend to focus on intelligent people with deficiencies (e.g. the absent mindedness in Albert Einstein).

I tend to think that intelligent people who are socially adaptive look "less intelligent", because they choose to be like everyone else, and they don't really train and use their intelligence as much as those with deficiencies in social skills. I could see this, because I tend to perceive myself as not intelligent (even Einstein thinks that way), while some people look at me as intelligent. I'm just more curious than everyone else in a specific subject.

It's a problem of choice, you're good at one thing, you will focus on that specific skill.


----------



## Raichan (Jul 15, 2010)

mnemonicfx said:


> The typical definition. Social accomplishments: money, rewards, certificate, praise, status.


Those things bring pleasure and security, but do not necessarily promise real happiness.





> Yes, if they're wealthy or at least belong to the upper-middle class, which most intelligent people are (CMIIW). Again, I emphasized "economic" condition as a bigger factor of unhappiness compared to intelligence.


Hmm.. I'm suddenly thinking of Marxist vs functionalist vs interactionist approach to education O_O





> But, again their intelligence is "a factor", but I tend to think there is another factor besides intelligence as a cause of the unhappiness.



Yes.

Intelligence is a tool that people have to utilize accordingly, it's not just something that's given and then that's it.


----------



## Angelic Gardevoir (Oct 7, 2010)

I think this article makes a mistake in equating high social status and monetary wealth with happiness. I would think that some intelligent people wouldn't be very interested in that, since such a life would ultimately feel empty to them in comparison to intellectual pursuits.

There is the issue of being an "outsider," though. Intelligent people, especially those in the higher extremes, might have trouble relating with those of normal intelligence since they may not be as interested in "trivial" matters, so to speak. They may also intimidate people with their smartness. :tongue: But being intelligent does not automatically mean a lack of social skills, however. And as others have said, there are other factors to be considered here.


----------



## SyndiCat (Oct 2, 2010)

Intelligence should come with a sense of humility, as should wisdom.


----------



## mnemonicfx (Sep 5, 2010)

Yes, I understand about being an outsider.

But, most of the time I could make myself happy with some kind of "humanity drug", not chemical drug. It works for a while to fill that voidness. I don't have to be smart "all the time", and they could choose that too.


----------



## geGamedev (Nov 26, 2009)

I didn't read the pdf so this is just a comment on the thread title, after reading a few posts.

An intelligent person would need a greater intellectual challenge to be satisfied. They'd also be less likely to be understood by those around them. Also, if the environment they find themselves in doesn't promote growth and change, that could dampen their mood as well. Without resources, intelligence can become a source of frustration.


----------



## mnemonicfx (Sep 5, 2010)

If you ever watched the movie "Pi". The main character did something crazy with his brain at the end of the movie, so he would stop thinking about math.

I also witnessed that "unfulfilled" intelligent people tend to look for weird, dark, or unhealthy entertainment. A waste of a mind in an unsupportive society.


----------



## sonicdrink (Aug 11, 2010)

I just kinda skimmed it. 

Although it is true that being intelligent can sometimes leave you as an outsider, it's not always true. And humans are humans, socially perfect or not, we just adapt. If you want to brood over that whatever, be depressed and halt your own progress. As for me, I prefer to look at things objectively, and sometimes things will be happy, and sometimes they'll be sad, but that doesn't mean your whole outlook has to be negative. I would consider myself an intelligent person, and even though I don't have a perfect cookie-cutter life (but who does anyway?) I'm pretty darn content.


----------



## Raichan (Jul 15, 2010)

Emphasizing on a point I made about being progress oriented, I just feel like adding high intelligence does not necessarily determine whether a person is an outsider to the world or not :happy: 

It is a matter that concerns how a person uses his/her intelligence.

Also, values play important roles. As MikeAngell summed it up perfectly,'' Intelligence should come with a sense of humility, as should wisdom.''

Humility in moderation is a key to being able to put oneself in other people's shoes and think of better changes that can be implemented on social/global level.

P/S Ideally I see that having a balanced combination of self love and humility is a good thing. Of course, how ''balanced'' it can be depends on the individual.


----------



## USAirlinesLetter (May 25, 2011)

Intelligent people tend to be unhappy probably because their minds are preoccupied with a load of ideas which keep them always mentally busy of which it could be the reason that they can no longer get the chance to enjoy or unwind their lives once in a while.


----------



## Feral sheep (May 13, 2011)

maybe everything seems redundant to them. maybe my personality to them is a simple program that carries the same patterns day to day and my response are so predictable and trite.


----------



## MiriMiriAru (May 1, 2011)

Angelic Gardevoir said:


> I think this article makes a mistake in equating high social status and monetary wealth with happiness. I would think that some intelligent people wouldn't be very interested in that, since such a life would ultimately feel empty to them in comparison to intellectual pursuits.
> 
> There is the issue of being an "outsider," though. Intelligent people, especially those in the higher extremes, might have trouble relating with those of normal intelligence since they may not be as interested in "trivial" matters, so to speak. They may also intimidate people with their smartness. :tongue: But being intelligent does not automatically mean a lack of social skills, however. And as others have said, there are other factors to be considered here.


I agree with you here. Things like wealth and status and fitting in may not be relevant to someone who prioritises making intellectual discoveries and such.



SyndiCat said:


> Intelligence should come with a sense of humility, as should wisdom.


This could be equally said of stupidity. I have seen my fair share of stupid arrogant people, as well as humble intelligent people. At least the smart ones have something to be proud of (if they are).



> Education systems in countries whose primary interest is in wealth accumulation encourage heroes in movies, war and sports, but not in intellectual development.


I feel this pretty accurately describes Australia's education system.


----------



## Coonsy (Dec 22, 2010)

The article is very broad, and like anything that makes generalizations, there are exceptions to all of it. That being said, at least here in America, I would generally agree with the vast majority of what the article talks about. The one exception being that money=happiness - I'm broke, but I'm very happy with where and who I am. That was not true for me, however, the majority of my life until nearly my mid-twenties when I was finally into college and experiencing more freedom.

This culture and society does not appreciate intelligence, and they are so accustomed to working around a lack of it that it does become more difficult for the intelligent people to find their niche. Most companies don't want someone around who's going to shake things up, propose change and set about carrying it out. They may say they do, but in reality, if you look at who they hire, it's not going to be the movers and shakers...it's going to be the person who's content to sit by and "just do their job."

Our school system is a total fail, for both ends of the spectrum - the only kids who maybe get some benefit from it are the middle-of-the-road kids who have a desire to try. Highly intelligent kids are bored, left out socially, and ignored...the other end suffers just as much.

My 5 year old nephew has very high intelligence for his age...he would drown in a traditional public school setting, and probably find himself bored to tears. Even being homeschooled is tough for him, although it's better since it's tailored to him, unfortunately, the people he spends the majority of his time around are unlikely to really allow him to feel challenged (especially his babysitter, who although nice enough lady, to be honest she's at the low end of the "normal" intelligence ranks and he already seems to understand that he can outsmart her - not a good combination for a 5 year old to figure out).

I may pass this article on to a few other people I know who I would rank as above average-high intelligence and get their perspectives as well, since each of our experiences in life is rather unique.


----------



## dalsgaard (Aug 14, 2010)

"Boohooo, people think it's a blessing but it's totally not! Curse this intelligent mind and all the hundreds of social problems that comes with it! I have it so hard! My life sucks! No one understands me! It's no fun being a geek!"


----------



## sarek (May 20, 2010)

I think when you're intelligent you see so much that is wrong, yet so few opportunities to change things. After all, you are just one person with limited influence and there is no real positive correlation between intelligence and power. Maybe even a negative one.

Also, the correlation between intelligence and mental issues as noted before is an important element.


----------



## nakkinaama (Jun 20, 2012)

Depressed people tend to be unhappy too


----------



## Lackjester (Aug 16, 2011)

You can be considered intellectual but be very short-sighted, which would allow you to fail alongside society quite nicely. The real problem isn't political, economic or scientific, it's existential and eternal; the more you ponder on the mutability (or lack thereof) of reality, the harder it becomes to accept society as it is currently...

Rejecting modern humanity is very stressful on your whole organism... Walking on the sidelines is so much harder than driving on the highway. 

Which is why balance is so important: one is sustainable but, given current trends, destroys you and the other helps you grow at the expense of someone or something else.

A true intellectual has to ask himself: is it all right for me to build on other's misery? What can I do that would make up for it?


----------



## CoopV (Nov 6, 2011)

I think that being intelligent makes you overanalyze and overthink things so that in turn makes you more depressed. The dumber you are I think the more simple minded you are and you don't pay attention to things as much. 

Look at animals. They do what they have to do and don't get depressed. You could say some of them can appear sad but only when their survival is constantly under threat. In the case of humans I think we've created more needs with our intelligence and thus more chances of being depressed.


----------



## Carmine Ermine (Mar 11, 2012)

Intelligent people tend to know the real world more and be more cautious as a result of that. Though they say "fools rush in where angels fear to tread" - such a place where angels fear to tread may mean their doom.

The thing about completely "free" confidence is that it doesn't believe in danger and thus does things that are reckless (although to the untrained eye, they can come across like calculated risks and bravado).

Imagine first a person of low intelligence (a fool) - he takes uncalculated risks based on a feeling or impulse (total confidence without competence).

Then, increase their intelligence and they begin see the possible consequences of their reckless actions, and refrain from doing them. This inhibits their ability and makes them sad because they can no longer walk through life as if there's no danger.

Then, increase the intelligence further and they may take calculated risks and possibly find happiness in it. Then they can get a new form of confidence from competence, knowing the world.

Intelligent people might come to the realization that the outside world and the inside world are just as important - because, if you die, both your outside world and your inside world will be equally as dead from your point of view.

The primary difference is that you can much more easily control your inside world compared to your outside world (I guess this is "the introvert advantage" although I've never read that book but I've heard of it).

Towards that end, I'm once again finding happiness from being extremely apt to "rush in where angels fear to tread" in my inner world. The possible danger here is madness from challenging your personal level of control of your inner world (rather than death from challenging the outside world). I've learned about "enlightenment" and "mindfulness", and I'm currently finding a way to transcend that (which is commonly assumed to be impossible by most mindfulness theorists).

For example, although comparison and judgment is supposed to be a bad thing in mindfulness/enlightenment, what I'm experimenting with nowadays is to put the world into a "multiversal" perspective is to *compare* it to a more ideal world (from fiction), and then I can *judge* that this entire universe is "not very good", because it can never match up to the ideal "better universe". This is supposed to combine with the mindfulness and enlightenment to produce an "even better" state of happiness. In my opinion it gets out of the possible trap of trying to trick yourself into believing that this real universe is overly beautiful and miraculous. It is indeed beautiful and miraculous in some places, but definitely can't compete with ideal alternative universes. This is to put things into perspective and make it much more easy to accept what we are (fragile, weak, badly designed beings) without having to trick ourselves that we are something better.


----------



## Le9acyMuse (Mar 12, 2010)

We're all intelligent, aren't we? Intelligent and ignorant by nature (we're not born knowing everything). Those that nurture their intelligences are, on average, less complacent than those who do no nurturing. Those that are complacent keep most of their ignorance and are possibly more easily satisfied, as theirs standards and outlooks aren't very far-reaching.

So, concentration of ignorance plays a huge role, I feel. Once you begin seeking better explanations, you see how threatening it is not knowing. It's more than unhappiness; perhaps it's awareness of the world for what it's capable of.

If you mean to ask why intellectual people tend to be unhappy it could be for these reasons and others not covered, like becoming a player in a game of power rather than knowledge for knowledge's sake.


----------



## Tristan427 (Dec 9, 2011)

Makes sense.


----------



## castigat (Aug 26, 2012)

Raichan said:


> For some reason, I suddenly remember a quote I read when I was a kid,'' Happiness comes from good health and bad memory'' *LOL * :crazy:
> .
> 
> Was his depression triggered from the suffering he had seen in wars?
> ...


Y'think Hemingway's problems might have just _slightly _stemmed from the fact that he was raised as a girl?


----------



## Raichan (Jul 15, 2010)

Iseoxe said:


> Y'think Hemingway's problems might have just _slightly _stemmed from the fact that he was raised as a girl?


I neither see nor know the relevance of 'gender' in this case.

Thanks for quoting an old post I wrote, it's like a reminder to me


----------



## castigat (Aug 26, 2012)

Raichan said:


> I neither see nor know the relevance of 'gender' in this case.
> 
> Thanks for quoting an old post I wrote, it's like a reminder to me


You're welcome. I tend to be a bit late, you know.
I just don't know if Hemingway's general unhappiness had more to do with his intelligence than to do with the fact that he was dressed and raised like a girl in his childhood (it's probably the first two years, but I've seen other sources say six, others up to fourteen). 
I'm probably completely jumping to conclusions regarding how he thought since I didn't know him, but it was an idea.

"Hemingway once categorized his demanding, manipulative mother, Grace, as “an all-time, all-American b****,” and indeed echoes of his strained relationship with his parents show up in much of his writing. *But he long sought to keep the true oddities of his childhood secret. At one point he even threatened to cut off his aging mother financially if she gave an interview about his childhood to a magazine reporter.* Hemingway’s attempts to quash the stories from his childhood might well have been successful had his sister, Marcelline, not gone and published a tell-all book.
In a nutshell, here’s what Papa was hoping to hide: Grace, who was perhaps not the most balanced woman of all times, had always wanted twins. Instead, she got Marcelline and then, 18 months later, Ernest. Submitting to her twin fantasies, *she started dressing Ernest up in Marcelline’s old clothes, despite the fact that they were little girl’s clothes—lacey white dresses with pink bows and the like*. Soon his mom was buying two of everything and dressing her children in identical pink gowns and flowered hats. She would refer to the kids as her “sweet Dutch dollies” and actually tell strangers that they were her twin girls. To perpetuate the twin fantasy, Grace even held Marcelline back a year in school so that she and Ernest would be in the same grade together. Oh, and his mother so treasured the fantasy of Ernest being a little girl that she sometimes referred to him as “Ernestine.” Anyone looking for a reason why he grew up to make such a show about being masculine?
Read the full text here: Why Hemingway Used to Wear Women’s Clothing - Mental Floss 
--brought to you by mental_floss! "

Other websites say the same thing.^
​


----------



## Dark NiTe (Mar 5, 2012)

Growing up with an IQ roughly two standard deviations above the mean of your family, and having only one other person in it you can relate to, who suffers just as much as you, is a pretty good indicator that Western society does in fact not have any clue and/or intent to accommodate those who are intellectually superior.


----------



## Sapphyreopal5 (Jun 11, 2012)

I tend to believe that while intelligent people tend to see a bigger picture of how things really are in life, a lot of those who are miserable I also think have poor emotional intelligence. The article even admitted to a more "behind" emotional development in a lot of cases for intelligent people. It's not so much about being more intelligence I say that makes someone more inclined to say being depressed, it's what they _do_ with their intelligence. Yes a lot of the most intelligent people are also known for having mental illnesses, yet at the same time we shouldn't attribute this to simply being more aware of things. 
It's what people do with that information that determines whether or not they're happy. I realize the paper was not saying necessarily that intelligence = misery and lack of intelligence = happiness but it is just a trend they noticed. I just think the article failed to point out that it's not the awareness they have that makes them miserable, but it's what they do it with it that makes them happy or not.


----------



## AstralSoldier (Jun 18, 2012)

From personal experience I can say that intelligent and emotionally 'sensitive/receptive' people can become depressed. Being able to grasp the less observable psychological under currents of situations, and people can make you a little jaded. I came to the awareness that humanity is still very primitive in overall understanding of each other as well as the environment around them, and are driven by a basic primordial fear of not having enough, and to correct that: that fear can drive you to do irrational things you wouldn't otherwise consider. That can place me right in the path of someone driven by desperation to do something they would otherwise regret. The price of knowledge is understanding...kind of reminds me that a certain distance, and 'ignorance' can be bliss as most people are blissfully unaware of the conflicts, ideas, and motives that lie dormant and underneath the conscious mind: afterall, we are primarily driven by the under currents of our subconscious behaviors, prior experiences, that are inclusive to our survival instincts....in short, we do what we MUST to survive.


----------



## Life.Is.A.Game (Nov 5, 2010)

mnemonicfx said:


> I witness some people who are more intelligent than me, and they seem to be more depressed than myself. Even though there's not much problem with their economic condition. Some of them are even wealthy.
> 
> I really do think with wealth and intelligence you can do almost anything.


...except be happy.


----------



## Death Persuades (Feb 17, 2012)

I'm not inclined to download that...


----------



## niss (Apr 25, 2010)

Fault of society? Doubtful. More likely it's how they cope: Good Will Hunting


----------



## Salamandre (Aug 8, 2012)

Haven't red more than the first page but if I may be inclined to answer. I believe the fault lie with-in the infrastructure of our society. Intellectuals are people with internal value systems they promote new ideas and paradigms even via the endangerment of their own lives. They become thrilled at an even the most marginal change as it leads to furthering their visions of the future. However they certainly can not express that part of themselves as effectively in our society. Our education system is basically one big encyclopedia and we're teaching our students to be librarians. It takes 14 years from kindergarten to junior undergrad year before you truly apply skills in a creative or equivocal manner instead of playing an game of operation. Where you memorize an piece of information and apply it to a question which you also memorized :wink:. You can sense the disdain of intx types who most appropriately fit the intellects paradigm and against academia that something has to be wrong. But of course i'm sure our infrastructure was influenced by world war 2 and America's attempt to unify the world. We would have to stray away from that side of intellectuals as they can jeopardize our imagine of stability. For they cam represent radical reform in the a majority of peoples minds at least that's how my axioms are interpreting it. So intellectuals are depressed because there restricted in a way.


----------

