Ah. A semi poetic variant of the classic “Intelligence and depression are linked...”
But..... what if I told you- that no matter how intelligent you are- your understanding is a tiny thimble in the universe? That on our best days- most of us can barely understand ourselves- and the thoughts of the most intelligent humans are still influenced by bias- that is what being human is?
I know an engineer. Works on space craft. Very intelligent. But there are no “space craft engineers...” He does screws. Fasteners. He knows just about everything humanity knows about screws. What materials do what, what types of fastener for temperatures and stresses and to fasten what to what. He doesn’t know much more about a space craft guidance system than most folks- and he can’t figure out how to plug in a surround sound system to a home television. Intelligence comes in all types and specialties.
But here’s a twist- we might say an intelligent person can see the trends of climate change or population or economics and sees they are going badly. They may see tends in society that suggest things goes a bad direction. Ok. But... an intelligent person should also know that an indication based on past data doesn’t dictate a future outcome- it only guides probabilities for outcomes. An intelligent person might see there are many variables they are unaware of and thus their data is incomplete and fallible. An intelligent person might realize that history is cyclical- that change is inevitable and that individual human beings can and have survived worse or more unpleasant circumstances- lived, loved, laughed, and thrived.
In fact- we might even say that intelligence- or some form of intelligence- can be measured not by a persons ability to see good or bad things in the world or predict the direction of the world- but it is a measure of a persons ability to adapt to these changes and to find ways to still be able to have the life they want and succeed at their goals regardless.
Who is “smarter,” the person who predicts that the market will crash and gets dragged down with it or barely wethers it- or the person who is able to identify how to thrive in the crashes market and from the crash rebuilds an empire bigger and better than they ever could have before the crash?
barring depression or other conditions that prevent the mind from its “full and regular function,” if you find yourself regularly unhappy it isn’t a sign or symptom of intelligence. It’s a sign or symptom that you either aren’t so intelligent, you are too lazy to act on what you know you should do (also not very intelligent), or that you CHOOSE to be unhappy. You want to be unhappy. I would say that a hallmark of intelligence as an abstract as opposed to simply having a good memory- is problem solving- being able to figure out how to achieve a goal no? So unless your goal is to be unhappy- you can’t be THAT intelligent if you can’t figure out how to be happy can you? That isn’t to say a person who is unhappy is dumb- it is simply that perhaps the person who believes their intelligence stops their happiness isn’t as smart as they think they are.
I suppose we could say that a person can have some level of intelligence- but still not enough intelligence to reach a goal. The smartest kid at most high schools isn’t dumb- but the smartest kid at the average high school also probably isn’t smart enough to create and run a successful lunar landing right? But then if we view it that way- the statement becomes self evident doesn’t it? It’s meaningless. Does a rock or a brick which far as we know- lack all intelligence- ever feel unhappy? So saying having SOME intelligence but not enough intelligence makes you unhappy is... well... true- but it’s like saying water is wet- it’s not a statement we really need to make except perhaps to a baby.
Tl.:dr and in conclusion- Well... anyway.... the great thing about people is we can learn and adapt. No matter how intelligent or not a person is- they can always learn and grow. So- wether you’re happy or not probably has way less to do with your intelligence than it does with your outlook in life and how you choose to see things- what you choose to focus on and the details you decide to make the most important points to use whatever intelligence you have thinking about.
But..... what if I told you- that no matter how intelligent you are- your understanding is a tiny thimble in the universe? That on our best days- most of us can barely understand ourselves- and the thoughts of the most intelligent humans are still influenced by bias- that is what being human is?
@jasonmon You there too?