I would not be surprised if increased intelligence was implicated in a neurophysiological trade off with mental health, but the most obvious handicaps of high intelligence come from being in a social environment of lower general intelligence, optimized for lower intelligence.
Location and age cohort based education is designed for the center of the bell curve at the expense of the tails in about every way imaginable. It’s a bad fit socially, because large discrepancies in intelligence makes for difficulty in relating. It’s crippling intellectually, because beyond being bored to tears, you’re not learning how to control and drive yourself toward goals, which is the fundamental skill to be developed in your youth.
Happily, as in a great many things, a first world youngling smarty pants of today has it so much better. Access to all the world’s information, access to online training in all the worlds information, and access to smart people who will interact with you.
You know what I had? An encyclopedia! And I was lucky to have it.
Once you’re older, self segregation gets easier to accomplish, both socially and professionally, and it makes a difference. People like people like themselves. Smart people will hire you because you’re smart, and not so smart people won’t hire you because you’re smart.
Location and age cohort based education is designed for the center of the bell curve at the expense of the tails in about every way imaginable. It’s a bad fit socially, because large discrepancies in intelligence makes for difficulty in relating. It’s crippling intellectually, because beyond being bored to tears, you’re not learning how to control and drive yourself toward goals, which is the fundamental skill to be developed in your youth.
I went to an elementary school for gifted children, so all of my classmates had above-average intelligence, and we had a challenging academic program. I’d be really surprised if we’d turn out to be any happier, or better at driving ourselves towards goals, than high-intelligence people who were educated in regular schools. In fact, my intuition tells me that these problems are not environmental but biological in origin.
Is there any hard data on this? Are high-IQ people who grow up in high-IQ environments happier or more goal-oriented than high-IQ people who grow up in an average-IQ environment?
the most obvious handicaps of high intelligence come from being in a social environment of lower general intelligence, optimized for lower intelligence.
Hmm, good point how being smarter than others in the social environment can decrease happiness. But could that be outweighed by a related increase happiness?
For example, think back to school days. Some kids struggle with homework, but others finish it quickly and easily, freeing up time to pursue fun. Same thing with adult life. Some people struggle just to get by day-to-day. Intelligent people can think about how to get by expending less time and effort, freeing up more physical and mental to pursue what they’re passionate about.
That’s been my personal experience anyway, but most of the things I enjoy are physical activities like games and sports that don’t always require high-intellect friends. And I did spend a lot more time with my family than my friends, and I realized it wasn’t purely because I loved my family members more; I also enjoyed their company more since they were smarter.
I would not be surprised if increased intelligence was implicated in a neurophysiological trade off with mental health, but the most obvious handicaps of high intelligence come from being in a social environment of lower general intelligence, optimized for lower intelligence.
Location and age cohort based education is designed for the center of the bell curve at the expense of the tails in about every way imaginable. It’s a bad fit socially, because large discrepancies in intelligence makes for difficulty in relating. It’s crippling intellectually, because beyond being bored to tears, you’re not learning how to control and drive yourself toward goals, which is the fundamental skill to be developed in your youth.
Happily, as in a great many things, a first world youngling smarty pants of today has it so much better. Access to all the world’s information, access to online training in all the worlds information, and access to smart people who will interact with you.
You know what I had? An encyclopedia! And I was lucky to have it.
Once you’re older, self segregation gets easier to accomplish, both socially and professionally, and it makes a difference. People like people like themselves. Smart people will hire you because you’re smart, and not so smart people won’t hire you because you’re smart.
I went to an elementary school for gifted children, so all of my classmates had above-average intelligence, and we had a challenging academic program. I’d be really surprised if we’d turn out to be any happier, or better at driving ourselves towards goals, than high-intelligence people who were educated in regular schools. In fact, my intuition tells me that these problems are not environmental but biological in origin.
Is there any hard data on this? Are high-IQ people who grow up in high-IQ environments happier or more goal-oriented than high-IQ people who grow up in an average-IQ environment?
Hmm, good point how being smarter than others in the social environment can decrease happiness. But could that be outweighed by a related increase happiness?
For example, think back to school days. Some kids struggle with homework, but others finish it quickly and easily, freeing up time to pursue fun. Same thing with adult life. Some people struggle just to get by day-to-day. Intelligent people can think about how to get by expending less time and effort, freeing up more physical and mental to pursue what they’re passionate about.
That’s been my personal experience anyway, but most of the things I enjoy are physical activities like games and sports that don’t always require high-intellect friends. And I did spend a lot more time with my family than my friends, and I realized it wasn’t purely because I loved my family members more; I also enjoyed their company more since they were smarter.