Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by duttakapil 1310 days ago
Hello, author here.

I think I failed to communicate the core idea of the article here. Of course what I describe is a product of the human condition, my argument was simply that "intelligence" dials up that conditioning, resulting in the person being more prone to such suffering.

Everyone thinks, everyone questions, it's just that the intelligence tends to make you think and question a lot more, resulting more often in the separation of mind and body. There are many research studies on this subject as well, I mentioned one of them in the article : https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016028961....

The other part of the article was focused more on our higher expectation from such people around us, setting them up for greater disappointment. And the limitations of intelligence, how cognitive biases can creep in even if you are a highly rational person.

Also thank you for expressing your concern and kind words, I am not actually dealing with an existential crisis at the moment, although I have in the past :)

2 comments

Intelligence is just the ability to think logically (at least as defined by iq). What you mean is probably overthinking, anxiety, etc.
Yes, and it seems to be that brains with higher intelligence have stronger tendencies to "overthink" and thus triggering anxiety, irrational discomfort, etc. Everyone experiences this in general, but with higher intelligence the likelihood dials up. See this paper - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016028961... for reference
You have a point with being aware of where the “you” ends and things out of “your influence” begin. Accepting that something’s can’t be changed is a good point to reflect that “your” happiness should come from internally - the external is a bonus. Failure to accept this puts others and external factors in control of “your” happiness.
Yes. Accepting what you can and cannot control is essential. Worrying about things beyond your influence can be futile. Even within yourself, you might not be able to control your mind or even your life in it's entirety, but you can control what you pay attention to this second. Simply paying attention to the present, mindfulness practice, helps modulate your experience of life without actively trying to control it