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from the not-what-soylentils-want-to-hear dept.
If ignorance is bliss, does a high IQ equal misery? Popular opinion would have it so. We tend to think of geniuses as being plagued by existential angst, frustration, and loneliness. Think of Virginia Woolf, Alan Turing, or Lisa Simpson – lone stars, isolated even as they burn their brightest. As Ernest Hemingway wrote: "Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know."
The question may seem like a trivial matter concerning a select few – but the insights it offers could have ramifications for many. Much of our education system is aimed at improving academic intelligence; although its limits are well known, IQ is still the primary way of measuring cognitive abilities, and we spend millions on brain training and cognitive enhancers that try to improve those scores. But what if the quest for genius is itself a fool's errand?
The first steps to answering these questions were taken almost a century ago, at the height of the American Jazz Age. At the time, the new-fangled IQ test was gaining traction, after proving itself in World War One recruitment centres, and in 1926, psychologist Lewis Terman decided to use it to identify and study a group of gifted children. Combing California's schools for the creme de la creme, he selected 1,500 pupils with an IQ of 140 or more – 80 of whom had IQs above 170. Together, they became known as the "Termites", and the highs and lows of their lives are still being studied to this day.
As you might expect, many of the Termites did achieve wealth and fame – most notably Jess Oppenheimer, the writer of the classic 1950s sitcom I Love Lucy. Indeed, by the time his series aired on CBS, the Termites' average salary was twice that of the average white-collar job. But not all the group met Terman's expectations – there were many who pursued more "humble" professions such as police officers, seafarers, and typists. For this reason, Terman concluded that "intellect and achievement are far from perfectly correlated". Nor did their smarts endow personal happiness. Over the course of their lives, levels of divorce, alcoholism and suicide were about the same as the national average.
As the Termites enter their dotage, the moral of their story – that intelligence does not equate to a better life – has been told again and again. At best, a great intellect makes no differences to your life satisfaction; at worst, it can actually mean you are less fulfilled.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 15 2015, @07:04PM
which says that the love of money is the root of all evil.
Money is but a tool. It is the idolization of that tools value that brings upon the evil.
Here is the thing about money. Once you get to a particular place you are 'OK'. That level of 'OK' is very different for everyone. Some people desire to only walk upon marble and have new socks every day. Others are good with an old comfy chair and a book borrowed from the library.
I used to obsess over money. However, once I paid off my house that obsession went away. I was not coveting money. I was coveting a place to live. Money was the tool for that. Coveting money is not that I desire money. I desire the 'power' money brings.
I have recently tried putting some thought into what I do once this job I have 'runs out'. As I have no desire one way or another for another job. Money is of a minor concern but only to make sure those others in my life are OK. I have found a new vice. Sloth :(
You sound like you are in a similar place. You have 'enough' money to do what you want. You at least sound like you have found something to do with your time. Writing holds no flame for me either.
My passion is gone. One of the curses of 'being smart' is I can figure it out. Once I do that I no longer am interested.