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posted by CoolHand on Wednesday April 15 2015, @04:06PM   Printer-friendly
from the not-what-soylentils-want-to-hear dept.

From BBC Future:

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.

 
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  • (Score: 2) by Aichon on Wednesday April 15 2015, @10:37PM

    by Aichon (5059) on Wednesday April 15 2015, @10:37PM (#171219)

    If you were going to go for a Biblical reference, I'd have gone for Solomon. Widely regarded as the wisest person ever, he wrote the entire book of Ecclesiastes over how miserable his existence is and how vain everything in life is.

    Also, most of what you've said about Job isn't actually supported by your primary source. There wasn't a contest at play, Job's soul was never up for grabs, Job didn't get to talk to God throughout his ordeals, and when he finally did talk to God after it was all said and done, God started off by delivering some scathing commentary on Job's attitude regarding what had been happening.

    But yeah, I was actually just talking with a friend earlier today about how, at least for me, I'm content to enjoy a $10 bottle of wine, rather than attending a class that'll teach me to hate it and prefer one that's significantly more expensive. Why ruin a good thing? Likewise, people may be well-served by stopping at a point in their training and education prior to when they become discontented. Some people will have a higher tolerance, others a lower one, but we will almost all eventually reach discontentment, yet we'd almost all be better-served by remaining contented.

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  • (Score: 1) by SubiculumHammer on Thursday April 16 2015, @01:01AM

    by SubiculumHammer (5191) on Thursday April 16 2015, @01:01AM (#171273)

    Well you are right that JOb didn't converse with God through all the tribulations. I misunderstood some of the references...the old testament can be confusing. However, Job does get to hear and see God after the tribulations, which surely influenced his decision to repent.

    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by aristarchus on Thursday April 16 2015, @07:59AM

      by aristarchus (2645) on Thursday April 16 2015, @07:59AM (#171448) Journal

      WTF? Is this Soylent News Bible School? And we cannot even get the Book of Job correct? Job had no need to repent, ever. He was a completely righteous dude. All he did was ask for an explanation. "You know, God, I have been a good cookie my whole life, and suddenly you rain down affliction and pestilence upon me for no reason. What's up with that?" And of course God could not say, "I made a bet with Satan that you would curse my name! Thanks for making me 50 bucks!" No, God pulls a bunch of BS when he answers Job, and that is because God is all about bullshit. "Were you there when I laid the foundations of the world?" Well, no, what is your point, God? "Can you draw Leviathan from the sea?" Um, no, I would need a bigger hook, or an exploding harpoon gun, which hasn't been invented yet. So God talks to Job. If I were Job, I would have told God to go F--- Hisself. Which evidently the Christian god has already done. I mean, virgin birth of a male can only mean one thing! Think about it.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 16 2015, @05:41PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 16 2015, @05:41PM (#171668)

        I mean, virgin birth of a male can only mean one thing! Think about it.

        The Christian god is a mother-fucking rapist.