Why are Stupid people happier than Smart people?

SteveMinjares

There is a debate going on that stupid people live happier more fulfilling lives, compared Smart people

There argument comes from the belief that the more you know the more you worry about things and more cynical you become about the facade of life.

My belief is that it is due to our obsession to problem solving and logic. Our constant desire to figure things, destroyed the magic that romantic relationship we had with life.

Stupid people aren’t really stupid but only prioritize there intelligence on what is important to them and what makes them happy.

The same goes for smart people, they aren’t all a bunch of depress, anxious filled people questioning the meaning of existence. Some are actually self-discipline individual who prioritize there thoughts. Investing just enough brain power to solve a problem than stop and move on with there lives.

Good examples, if you are cold in the woods, you use your intelligence to gather wood than you clap two stones together to light a fire. But if you are still clapping the stones together after the fire is lit than who is the fool. The one enjoying the fire or the one still clapping the stones together?

This metaphor is to show that over thinking can be counterintuitive . Don’t waste your brain power that does not prove to be productive or improve your life.

Or your inviting more problems to worry about, things that probably won’t matter in your lifetime.

Don’t get me wrong I am not bashing science because honestly I do enjoy using my car’s GPS

But in all seriousness...

If you are using physics to manage the satellite in the sky because it is giving instructions to your car’s GPS. Than that is productive thinking.

If you are studying the mechanics of
a Black Hole and we as a society can’t use this knowledge for everyday use in the near future. Than this research leads you to question your own existence and other psychological problems like depression and anxiety arises

Maybe is time to reassess your priorities on how you think.

Are stupid people happier?
By: Cristen Conger
https://science.howstuffworks.com/life/inside-the-mind/emotions/stupid-people-happier.htm

Are Happy People Dumb?
by Shawn Achor
https://www.google.com/amp/s/hbr.org/amp/2011/03/are-happy-people-dumb

Why Highly Intelligent People Are Miserable
By: Michael Ndubuaku
https://medium.com/swlh/why-highly-intelligent-people-are-miserable-c257f7d0680c

Deleted User

We should specify that, by saying “happy” in this context, we are actually saying “externally happy”. A drunk person seems externally happy, but we can realize that that happiness is a very impoverished happiness: it is restricted to very few aspects and connections of the experience of existence, while all the rest is just ignored. On the contrary, when you gain knowledge and experience of rich and deep aspects and connections, you are strongly attracted by them and you experience some sort of inner happiness that doesn’t show externally like the loud happiness of the drunk person.
So, actually, what we are talking about is not a dialectic between “happiness - non-happiness”, but a dialectic between different kinds of happiness.
This means that if stupid people gain a good, appropriate experience of those richer kinds of happiness, they will choose for sure those ones.
So, the conclusion is that everybody chooses the best kind of happiness among all the kinds of happiness they have been able to gain knowledge and experience about.

Kinglord1090

If it was only about happiness, wouldn't we be better off killing 99% population?
We could get more resources and happiness for everyone that way.
The point is that, happiness wasnt a factor for living until living things evolved and got those emotions.
However, the thirst to gain knowledge and reproduce has been present even since the creation of the first micro-organism.
So, the question shouldn't be if stupid people are happier and/or if smart people are sad, it should be if it is right to justify stupidness only by looking at it from an emotional point of view.

Still, if you wanted to find the answer to that question, you would have just posted that.
So, here is my answer to your current question-
Stupid people don't know and/or don't care how well their next generation can live.
We have many real-life examples for this.
Extreme deforestation and really limited drinkable water supply, to name a few.
As long as they can live happy, they will take up more resources.
Since, no one stops them if they have money, they end up happy.
Smart people on the other hand, want to make sure that the next generation can survive, thrive and also help their own next generation.
This isnt a very easy task to do.
It takes multiple sleepless nights and gives constant stress to people to think about this stuff.
And as a resut, they generally end up not being as happy as stupid people.
But, when they do succeed, like when scientists found vaccine to covid-19, the entire world gets to smile and be happy with them, and this makes them so happy that it is worth all the pain.

MikeListeral

Amalac

↪SteveMinjares

I think you might like this short story of Voltaire's (The Story of the Good Brahmin):

(I'm also using this chance to get more people to know of Akizur's great but little known channel).

I think the question whether wisdom is more valuable than happiness is a very important one, and one that I would unhesitatingly answer by saying that happiness is more valuable.

The example I like to use is that of Georg Friederich Haendel, a composer of the utmost genius, but compared to someone like E.M. Cioran for instance, he was very ignorant in my opinion.

Yet I'd argue that Haendel was far happier than Cioran was, and Cioran is indeed a great example of how “wisdom” can lead a person to be miserable and unhappy.

For another comparison, ask yourself: who were happier? The great philosophers of the past or the great mystics of the past that were ignorant to philosophy? My answer would be that the mystics were happier.

Kinglord1090

↪MikeListeral

This doesnt look stupid though.
This is literally an example of a basic generator, one of the greatest inventions of this world.

MikeListeral

This doesnt look stupid though. — Kinglord1090

so maybe the reason some things in life do look stupid is not because they are stupid but because the perceiver is stupid

skyblack

↪MikeListeral

WB

Kinglord1090

↪Amalac

I think the question whether wisdom is more valuable than happiness is a very important one, and one that I would unhesitatingly answer by saying that happiness is more valuable. — Amalac

If this is your statement, then we have reached an impasse, as I would unhesitatingly answer by saying wisdom is more valuable.
Note, that I am not saying that I believe that wisdom is more important.
In any real case scenario, I would more likey choose to be happy than know some wisdom that I can't use in real life to make my life easier. I am just saying that if we look at it from a logical point of view, it is mostly always better to choose knowledge.

who were happier? — Amalac

Like i have said before, the question isnt 'who is happier', but the question is 'who is 'right?'.
And the answer is that smart people are morally right, ths have the higher ground.

Kinglord1090

↪skyblack

What is WB?

skyblack

↪Kinglord1090

welcome back

skyblack

and to you as well.

Kinglord1090

↪MikeListeral

No, you just happened to use a bad example of the proverb.

The proverb is used when someone or something is made very unefficiently but still works.

In this case, using a basic generator to help cook food is an excellent and efficient way to solve the problem, as once the food is cooked, it can be used for other stuff as well.
And if the person gets copper and magnetite, (or just straight up gets copper wire and magnets), they will be able to produce electricity, and with some zinc and some other metals, they can even make a battery.

So, a good example would actually be if the person had done something like dissasemble their boat(or something important for later use), and used that to make this, as now even though they dont have a boat anymore, which is bad, they can atleast eat food, so, it will be a stupid choice which works, thus satisying the proverb.

Kinglord1090

↪skyblack

Thanks, i guess?
I am still a bit confused, but if you just meant it in a good way, then thank you and welcome back to you too.
You have posted any comment to the discussion yet, so i dont know what you are welcoming me back to.

MikeListeral

↪Kinglord1090

million of years after humans are extinct thousands of stupid lifeforms that are here now will still exist

Kinglord1090

Does anyone know what the number under our profile name means?

Kenosha Kid

↪SteveMinjares

We seem to be living in an era defined by angry stupid people. They don't seem all that happy to me.

Kinglord1090

↪MikeListeral

Yes.
By sheer luck.
Not because they deserved it.

Tom Storm

↪SteveMinjares

Do they not say ignorance is bliss?

Kinglord1090

↪Kenosha Kid

Hmmmmm.
Good point.
However, the question talks about how stupid people seem happier in "comparison" to smart people, not about how much happy stupid people are.

MikeListeral

By sheer luck.
Not because they deserved it. — Kinglord1090

no its because intelligence doesn't actually exist

there is no self, with free-will, who is intelligent.

all that is a delusion. doesnt exist

in reality there is only simplicity and complexity

and simplicity is stronger then complexity, so it lasts longer

Kinglord1090

↪Tom Storm

Ignorance is bliss means - 'if one is unaware of an unpleasant fact or situation one cannot be troubled by it.'
So, if you are trying to say that stupid people are happy because they arent troubled by the truth, you are correct.
If you are saying otherwise, you are wrong.

Kinglord1090

↪MikeListeral

Again, you are just using baseless assumptions.
I am fine with it if OP is, but I personally wouldnt agree with/take into consideration your words, if you cant provide explanations for it.
And since, you are saying that intelligence doesnt exist, i guess you are saying that your own opinions dont matter, as one has to be intelligent to form opinions.

MikeListeral

↪Kinglord1090

if you claim that a self with free-will and intelligence exists then the burden of proof is on you

so get busy

Kinglord1090

↪MikeListeral

Well, I dont need to give proof as all of it is already available on the internet.
Scientists know that intelligence lies within the brain.
So, there is no burden to carry anymore.

Also, if you deny the existence of them, then the burden of proving them wrong falls on you.
So, you can get busy as well.
However, I wouldnt actually want that as most people here want a logical and/or correct explanation for things.

MikeListeral

Well, I dont need to give proof as all of it is already available on the internet. — Kinglord1090

Well, I dont need to give disproof as all of it is already available on the internet.

Kinglord1090

↪MikeListeral

It is not.........
Lol
In my case, you can just wiki 'Brain', and get what you need.

MikeListeral

In my case, you can just wiki 'Brain', and get what you need. — Kinglord1090

in my case you can just wiki 'hard problem of consciousness' and get what you need

Kenosha Kid

However, the question talks about how stupid people seem happier in "comparison" to smart people, not about how much happy stupid people are. — Kinglord1090

They seem comparatively stupid and comparatively angry.

If you are using physics to manage the satellite in the sky because it is giving instructions to your car’s GPS. Than that is productive thinking.

If you are studying the mechanics of
a Black Hole and we as a society can’t use this knowledge for everyday use in the near future. Than this research leads you to question your own existence and other psychological problems like depression and anxiety arises — SteveMinjares

This suggests we value commerce over knowledge, and I think that'll depend on the person. As a physicist, I was happier discovering things that may or may not have technological applications but we're insightful more than I am now doing things that are certainly useful but not very insightful. That said, I'm currently moving into a nice cake-having-and-eating territory of doing hopefully insightful, hopefully useful work. Best of both worlds isn't off the table.

I think people like Einstein and Feynman were very happy with their work (if not private lives) but then it came much easier to them than to most. Adding to the world's knowledge seems at least as good an aim as tracking cars to me.

Kinglord1090

↪Kenosha Kid

They seem comparatively stupid and comparatively angry. — Kenosha Kid

Oh, ok. Sorry, i think i misunderstood what you meant.
It is true that often it seems like both the sides are equally angry at something, but I do personally believe with the OP's claim, as I think there are social experiments done where this has seen to be a common phenomenon.

Corvus

It seems true that more you learn and get to know about reality, less happy you get.
I guess it is because of the fact that when one gets to know more about life and the world, there is less room for imagination and expectation. What you were playing with imagination and expectations on life and reality, hard and cold realism and raw knowledge of them fill the place.

Does it mean that imagination is the opposite of nature to knowledge in the mental activities?

When I was a child, I recall I was a real stupid, naive and dumb. Everything I thought was wrong. And my beliefs on the world and people were based on my wrong imagination. But I was really happy.
I used to believe that humans live forever. The old people were born old, and I was born young, and I will stay young forever. I used to believe Santa was real. I thought my parents were Gods, they could do anything. And the world is the town I lived in ...etc. But as I was growing up, I have been realising that they were all wrong and false beliefs. My happiness has been shrinking proportionally, actually exponentially. Everyone was getting old fast, and they were leaving this Earth for good. The world is unnecessarily and inconveniently huge and full of disaster prone problems, the future of human civilization is uncertain, there are lots of social problems in the societies. My father has passed away, and he no longer replies to my emails ... etc etc.

Why are Stupid people happier than Smart people?

Welcome to The Philosophy Forum!

Categories

More Discussions