[Elaris]

After reading this article, I couldn't help but wonder what would happen if our brains were bigger? Sure, it's tempting to imagine being able to process more information, or better understand the mysteries of the universe. But I also began to wonder, would we really be happier and more fulfilled?

Would a bigger brain make us better problem solvers, or would it just make us more lonely and less able to connect with others? Would allowing us to understand everything also make us less able to truly experience the world as we do now?

[542354234235]

Maintaining social relationships is very intellectually demanding task. Animals that maintain social societies have larger brains than individualistic cousin species, in general. It is called the social brain hypothesis. Hyper intelligent people might tend to be less able to maintain relationships because they are too far outside the norm, not because they are smarter, per se. I would say that people with intellects much lower than the norm also have that problem.

Or it could be that, with our current hardware, brains that are hyper intelligent are in some way cannibalizing brain power that is “normally” used for processing social dynamics. In that sense, if we increased the processing power, people could have sufficient equipment to run both.

[alganet]

Maybe a better brain is a better problem solver and ALSO happier than all of us.

[bee_rider]

I expect that, to the extent* to which there’s a correlation between loneliness and intelligence, it is mostly because very smart people are unusual. So, if everyone was smarter, they’d just be normal and happy.

*(I could also be convinced that this is mostly just an untrue stereotype)