[mfer]

Two thoughts....

First, being intelligent (as defined in the article) doesn't relate to being happy. There is nothing inherent about being intelligent that means happy.

Second, our society spends a lot of time shaping culture and people to extract value from them. For example, the focus on "more" rather than "enough". We are shaped to always desire more and never be content with what we have. Even intelligent people are shaped by this. Consider the fall in terms of people who have hobbies.

[thewebguyd]

> Second, our society spends a lot of time shaping culture and people to extract value from them.

The usual trope here is that smarter people recognize this and see through the cage, leading to less overall happiness vs. "ignorance is bliss" where you don't recognize you are in a cage at all.

It's just that though, a trope. I'd argue happiness is more determined by emotional intelligence than anything, which an IQ test isn't going to measure.

[Slow_Hand]

Everyone wants to be happy, but nobody wants to be happy with what they have.

[MangoToupe]

Doesn't everyone want to be happy with what they have? Why would you not want that. Like, ideally we'd all be happy with nothing, right?

[palmotea]

> Doesn't everyone want to be happy with what they have?

No, most people think getting more (or getting something else) will make them happy.

> Why would you not want that. Like, ideally we'd all be happy with nothing, right?

Because it's hard to become wise, and that's not what society teaches.

[mfer]

In the 1920's of the US the idea of making people not content to stimulate buying gained popularity. This is still used today. The culture is directed at making people not satisfied. It's hard to go against the grain of society.

[lotsofpulp]

That wasn’t a new idea. It’s not even restricted to humans.

Competing for mates is one of the basic mechanisms in evolution, seen in many animals. Instead of fighting the tribal leader or whomever to display fitness, humans came up with a less violent solution, which manifests itself in the ability to buy things.

[conception]

I think this is a very American ideal (that has been exported with much success).

[alexalx666]

So maybe the right question to ask is - how to be content under capitalist regime if you are smart.

[dfxm12]

Second, our society spends a lot of time shaping culture and people to extract value from them.

More than that, society spends an increasing amount of time and money trying to convince people that they should be mad at each other for arbitrary reasons. I don't think this has much to do with intelligence, though.

See recently: Andrew Cuomo's racist AI-generated mayoral ad & Trump's AI generated truth post where he shits on Americans. It's hard to have a general feeling of happiness when the people with money & power in this world feel the need to go out of their way to spread their disdain for me because of how I look, what I do for a living, or the fact that I wasn't born into wealth.

[bluGill]

> There is nothing inherent about being intelligent that means happy.

Why aren't intelligent people doing [able to do] things that make them happy? Or at least happier that someone who is less intelligent?

[t-3]

People are more often trying to avoid being unhappy than trying to be happy. People who prioritize doing things that make them happy are called drug addicts usually.

[jfengel]

One would like to think that intelligence leads to making choices that bring more happiness.

If that doesn't work, various hypotheses come to mind, but I don't know how to test them.

[monkpit]

That’s a bold hypothesis!

[lanfeust6]

The upshot is that society also values that we create value. Doing things that others find valuable can foster a sense of meaning and belonging.

What you touched on is desire (see: hedonistic treadmill), and while that can be inflamed by messaging in society, it transcends any given society. If we didn't have desires, we wouldn't suffer for art or create great things. Tautologically, manifesting changes like that necessitate dissatisfaction with status quo.

[jasperry]

Intelligence isn't the same thing as happiness, but it could be correlated, because if IQ does measure generalized problem-solving ability, as it seems to, then smart people could apply themselves to the problem of happiness and have more success than average in it. Then the question is "why don't they"? As you indicated, one reason may be that there's not much encouragement to, because as a society we're still in "rat race" mode.