[derekbreden]

> Actually, I have for a long time been of the opinion that the quantity of noise anyone can comfortably endure is in inverse proportion to their mental powers, and can therefore be regarded as a rough measure of them.

Ditto.

My personal subjective observation on tolerance of meaningless noise and mental powers of others coincides with this observation.

This getting downvoted would improve my opinion of both the noise intolerance and intellectual prowess of the hackernews community.

[hedberg10]

Big5 traits: Neuroticism. If it's high, you'll be intolerant of noise. Unsure if neuroticism correlates with intelligence.[1]

[1]https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S01918....

Don't assume for others what feels true for yourself, Mr. Babbage. That is a true sign of low intellectual prowess.

And I say that as somebody who thinks street musicians/"artists" in subway cars are criminals and should be prosecuted. I can not run away and I didn't ask for or agree to your services.

[mikro2nd]

So if you're neurotic you'll (likely) be noise-intolerant, but that does not imply the inverse -- that being noise-intolerant means you're neurotic.

[jhoechtl]

In Vienna they get paid as amean to get beggars out of hotspots. Sad but true.

[devin]

Meh. I know people who can study in a crowded room, prefer it even, and others who would lose their mind at the mere mention of attempting such a thing.

I don’t find it difficult to tune noise out, personally. It’s kind of like blurring your own vision. That said, I’m a musician. It’s possible I’m just better at directing (redirecting?) my ear.

[laichzeit0]

It was Schoppenhauer’s opinion too. See his essay “On Noise”.

A counter example is John von Neumann who preferred working in noisy environments.

[Insanity]

There's a quote from Schopenhauer's "The World as Will" in the article as well. Interesting about von Neumann, I would never have guessed.

For work I need either silence or non-distracting music, noise can really interrupt my flow. There's construction going with my neighbours now and it's impossible to get anything done unless I use my ANC headphones..

[unhammer]

> at the IAS received complaints for regularly playing extremely loud German march music on the gramophone in his office, distracting those in neighboring offices, including Albert Einstein. In fact, von Neumann claimed to do some of his best work in noisy, chaotic environments such as in the living room of his house with the television blaring. Despite being a bad driver, he loved driving, often while reading books, leading to various arrests and accidents.

https://medium.com/cantors-paradise/the-unparalleled-genius-...

[baruchel]

Interested by your second assertion. Do you have some quote or source?

[ycombinete]

Nice subjective observation. My own: some of the most intelligent people I know are easily distracted by noise; other highly intelligent people that I know are not.