<p>is ignorance really bliss? there's a pretty sizable body of philosophy that insists it isn't, at least not real happiness. is being aware of the way the world and universe works relentlessly and inexorably depressing, or can intelligent people be uplifted if they think and look hard enough?</p>
<p>We should compare all those who committed suicide recently and compare their grades/success/intelligence/etc. and THEN make judgments.</p>
<p>If you truly seek to know knowledge for the intellect it bestows, and not in some vain pursuit for the material success it can bring, I think it is quite an uplifting thing.</p>
<p>“We should compare all those who committed suicide recently and compare their grades/success/intelligence/etc. and THEN make judgments.”</p>
<p>You’ll see it’s primarily drug addicts and it’s hard to get a good read on the intelligence of a drug addict (and yes, some drug addicts were at one point smart).</p>
<p>I know that as women’s lib progressed, they became sadder (Time magazine). So maybe freedom = sadness? I’m pretty sure it doesn’t though.</p>
<p>Well there are no actual studies proving it, but look up “existential depression.” It’s a type of chronic depression for, literally, smart kids. Again, there is no documented medical study proving a correlation, but the theory is sound and it’s been proven in plenty of patients, myself included.</p>
<p>I think happiness is spread pretty evenly from the 20th percentile to the 90th percentile in terms of intelligence. Then happiness jumps a little from the 90th to 99th percentiles, but not by too much. But once you get into the really smart people (>99th percentile), they can often be very depressed, insecure, etc., usually from not fitting in with the rest of society.</p>
<p>Dumb people tend to be poor. If you can’t pay bills, you don’t have security. You’re not going to be happy.</p>
<p>I think happiness is spread pretty evenly from the 20th percentile to the 90th percentile in terms of intelligence. Then happiness jumps a little from the 90th to 99th percentiles, but not by too much. But once you get into the really smart people (>99th percentile), they can often be very depressed, insecure, etc., usually from not fitting in with the rest of society.</p>
<p>That’s probably pretty accurate, except I don’t think people face depression from being too smart until they’re a fair bit above genius levels, more like 99.99% instead of 99%.</p>
<p>I feel like there is. The more you think about things, the more depressed they can make you. But it’s like the Yerkes dodson curve - happiness increases with intelligence up until a certain point and then plunges.</p>
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<p>By that quote, apparently the people with IQs around 140 and above are extremely depressed. So, a decent amount of people who post in here are extremely depressed? I don’t think so.</p>
<p>Use your IQ standard deviation knowledge, bro.</p>
<p>I am in the 99th percentile for IQ levels (I hate IQ testing, such an inexact science). I also have clinical depression. I will elaborate later, but my battery is about to die so… to be continued…</p>
<p>"By that quote, apparently the people with IQs around 140 and above are extremely depressed. So, a decent amount of people who post in here are extremely depressed? I don’t think so.</p>
<p>Use your IQ standard deviation knowledge, bro."</p>
<p>Check your math… 140 is only about 2.666 standard deviations out.</p>
<p>Continued from above: </p>
<p>While I have clinical depression, I am not unhappy in life. Most smart people I know that are unhappy are unhappy because they are bored. Boredom is the biggest reason that geniuses have depression. They need challenges and there are very few things that challenge them. That is why many geniuses turn to drugs- it opens up the mind.</p>
<p>Who cares? I’m smart and happy suckaz.</p>
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<p>lol seriously???</p>
<p>Geniuses turn to drugs for the same reason many other people turn to drugs. It makes you feel good.</p>
<p>Are you seriously encouraging people to become dumber? :o</p>
<p>lol, I’m kidding. 
But honestly, it’s probably because they set higher standards and goals for themselves, encounter more negative reactions to their intelligence, and don’t happily let themselves be brainwashed.</p>
<p>Maybe ignorance is bliss (foo’ s!), but knowledge is power. So HA.</p>
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<p>Who said I was posted a number that was an integer of standard deviation? 140 is around 99% (though the actual 99% may be closer to 135), since the third deviation is 145 at 99.8% and the second is 130 at 97.7%.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.iqcomparisonsite.com/IQBasics.aspx[/url]”>http://www.iqcomparisonsite.com/IQBasics.aspx</a></p>
<p>Anyway, back to the original topic. It depends what kind of intelligence. Are we talking about ‘g’? Gardner’s 8 specialized intelligences? Emotional intelligence? Practical Intelligence? Creative intelligence? Analytical intelligence? Intelligence needs to be defined first.</p>
<p>The more you know about this world, the more you realize that it sucks.</p>
<p>But is knowledge intelligence?</p>