Does low intelligence(IQ) mean less suffering?

@Render,

Please describe a 'sophisticated problem' for me. Thank you.

---------- Post added 05-23-2010 at 07:24 AM ----------

I would only hazard consciousness has little or nothing to do with intelligence, it may, but I have yet to be shown this to be true. Thank you.

It could be shown the less you 'know' the more room there is to be conscious.

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@Render,

Render;167571 wrote:

It seems to me that people with lower IQ's or less mental capacity, don't spend time over-anlyzing things and can easily be distracted from stressful situations, and without having anxiety about the long term. Things just don't seem to bother them as much and they don't get involved in sophisticated problems. Also, they tend to live more subjectively.
Or you could ask,
are people of high intelligence 'more alive or conscious' than people of low intelligence?
Does anyone else agree and what are your thoughts on this?

Is ignorance bliss? Sometimes, I suppose, but it's a matter of circumstance and the nature of the problems confronting one that determine that. One might ask if problems of which one is unaware present a problem. Of course, sometimes they will, and sometimes not so much.

I do not think that intelligence is immediately tied to an entity's being alive or conscious, but I assume you are referring to something more like a persons capacity to register the intensity of an experience, or the vividness of their perceptions, and its relationship to their IQ. I'm still going to go with "no" on this one. A child prodigy and a poor fumbler like myself can both have the same amount of fun playing chess. And even if the better player can more easily predict the outcome of a match, that does not prevent either of us from having a similar appreciation for the beauty of the game.

1 Reply

@Render,

Life is hard, it is even harder and more dangerous if you are mentally impaired as well.
Most of the severely impaired have somebody else looking out for them or they would not survive.

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@Render,

Render;167571 wrote:

It seems to me that people with lower IQ's or less mental capacity, don't spend time over-anlyzing things and can easily be distracted from stressful situations, and without having anxiety about the long term. Things just don't seem to bother them as much and they don't get involved in sophisticated problems. Also, they tend to live more subjectively.
Or you could ask,
are people of high intelligence 'more alive or conscious' than people of low intelligence?
Does anyone else agree and what are your thoughts on this?

It does seem that some of what you have pointed out is some what true.
I would think that there would be both plus and minuses with one who has a lower IQ compared to someone who has a higher IQ.
Some of the people [not all] who have a high IQ are very deranged. There seems to be a fine line between a genius and one who has a serious problem.

1 Reply

@reasoning logic,

reasoning logic;167692 wrote:

Some of the people [not all] who have a high IQ are very deranged. There seems to be a fine line between a genius and one who has a serious problem.

I remember finding this interesting:
The Prometheus Society > Articles > The Outsiders

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@Render,

it isnt IQ...i think it has to do with sensitivity for others-if all you have to worry about is your own selfish needs there is a lot less to worry about. especially if you are in a position to be able to satisfy most of them.

what i have noticed is that people who give no importance to anything substantial are the ones who seem the most happy-and some of them may well have a high IQ and some a low or minimal IQ. my mother was a case study...normal to above average IQ i would guess, happy as a clam, and wouldnt notice if you were turning blue and choking to death while she was talking to you either...as long as you didnt interrupt her of course, in which case she would look for someone else to talk to.

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@Render,

Render;167571 wrote:

It seems to me that people with lower IQ's or less mental capacity, don't spend time over-anlyzing things and can easily be distracted from stressful situations, and without having anxiety about the long term. Things just don't seem to bother them as much and they don't get involved in sophisticated problems. Also, they tend to live more subjectively.
Or you could ask,
are people of high intelligence 'more alive or conscious' than people of low intelligence?
Does anyone else agree and what are your thoughts on this?

Hi Render,
Processing speed is paramount. I work among hundreds of people, most of them at the lower end of the IQ spectrum, a handful - mid range and a couple above. Having these people in-mind, I believe each analyse equally, but with less or more detail, according to relevant IQ. The "slow on the uptake" are easily distracted, because they are always uncertain of what is going on in the here and now, but, in family dilemmas, they become highly anxious. The mids are typically caught up in themselves and listen well but never hear. Those above, think deeply on many things, yet can be easily confounded by simple paradoxicals. Both lower and upper seem to be more prone to biological stress while the mids live in a state of self-imposed mental stress, that appears to make them immune to the effects of physical stress.

I might add that this is a generalism and by no means typifies the whole.
Hope these observations help.

Thank you Render, and journey brilliantly.

Mark...

1 Reply

@Render,

Render;167571 wrote:

It seems to me that people with lower IQ's or less mental capacity, don't spend time over-anlyzing things and can easily be distracted from stressful situations, and without having anxiety about the long term. Things just don't seem to bother them as much and they don't get involved in sophisticated problems. Also, they tend to live more subjectively.
Or you could ask,
are people of high intelligence 'more alive or conscious' than people of low intelligence?
Does anyone else agree and what are your thoughts on this?

No, it's purely the group think that dictates the ambitions, the standards which to strive for and ideals.
Intelligence or lack hereof does not make a premesis for happiness/unhappiness/mental suffering.

60 minutes - Happiness YouTube - 60 Minutes - Happiness

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@Render,

I feel that lower IQ is associated with happiness due to the simplicity of the lives they lead; when faced with a problem most of the time, very simple answers/solutions are found. People with higher intelligence tend to recognize faults and problems; also they tend to have a natural curiosity about them and are not as willing to accept the first solution.

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@Render,

I have to say that i agree with this. Less intelligent people seem to enjoy their lives more and be content with what is put in front of them. Now my IQ is 150 which is understand is above average. I always find myself questioning and over analyzing. Truth be told i'm usually discontent with the world around me knowing that things could and should be better. So in answers to your question, yes i believe a lower IQ does mean less suffering and less pain over constant thought.

1 Reply

@Yogi DMT,

Render;167571 wrote:

It seems to me that people with lower IQ's or less mental capacity, don't spend time over-anlyzing things and can easily be distracted from stressful situations, and without having anxiety about the long term. Things just don't seem to bother them as much and they don't get involved in sophisticated problems. Also, they tend to live more subjectively.

Vheissu;171549 wrote:

I feel that lower IQ is associated with happiness due to the simplicity of the lives they lead; when faced with a problem most of the time, very simple answers/solutions are found. People with higher intelligence tend to recognize faults and problems; also they tend to have a natural curiosity about them and are not as willing to accept the first solution.

Yogi DMT;171564 wrote:

I have to say that i agree with this. Less intelligent people seem to enjoy their lives more and be content with what is put in front of them. Now my IQ is 150 which is understand is above average. I always find myself questioning and over analyzing. Truth be told i'm usually discontent with the world around me knowing that things could and should be better. So in answers to your question, yes i believe a lower IQ does mean less suffering and less pain over constant thought.

I cannot help but find this perspective absurd. The reactions you describe: anxiety, discontent, a tendency to analyze and worry, as well as happiness, are emotional reactions that can in no way be correlated with an IQ score. What privileged lives you must lead if you find that an inflated intelligence quotient is the primary cause of your suffering. Most people are prompted to anxiety by things like disease, poverty, crime, the death of loved ones. These conditions are not meted out based on mental capacity. To para- a phrase, "Rain falls on the intelligent and the unintelligent alike." I'm not sure that the less intellectually inclined cancer patients are consoled, since they don't have to bother with understanding that "fancy" doctor talk. And if one were to consider two unemployed men, one out submitting job applications and the other analyzing the economic climate to determine why he lost his job, I have to wonder which one would be considered "distracted".

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@Render,

Render;167571 wrote:

It seems to me that people with lower IQ's or less mental capacity, don't spend time over-anlyzing things and can easily be distracted from stressful situations, and without having anxiety about the long term. Things just don't seem to bother them as much and they don't get involved in sophisticated problems. Also, they tend to live more subjectively.
Or you could ask,
are people of high intelligence 'more alive or conscious' than people of low intelligence?
Does anyone else agree and what are your thoughts on this?

Bill gate is smart. Is he sad?

1 Reply

@TuringEquivalent,

Razzleg;171656 wrote:

I cannot help but find this perspective absurd. The reactions you describe: anxiety, discontent, a tendency to analyze and worry, as well as happiness, are emotional reactions that can in no way be correlated with an IQ score. What privileged lives you must lead if you find that an inflated intelligence quotient is the primary cause of your suffering. Most people are prompted to anxiety by things like disease, poverty, crime, the death of loved ones. These conditions are not meted out based on mental capacity. To para- a phrase, "Rain falls on the intelligent and the unintelligent alike." I'm not sure that the less intellectually inclined cancer patients are consoled, since they don't have to bother with understanding that "fancy" doctor talk. And if one were to consider two unemployed men, one out submitting job applications and the other analyzing the economic climate to determine why he lost his job, I have to wonder which one would be considered "distracted".

Okay your right, this was an absurd post. I now realize that I was trying to compare personality types rather than IQ. (On the introverted and extroverted spectrum). Before I had mistakenly thought that almost everyone with a high IQ was introverted.
I guess it ultimately just depends of your what best works for your personal environment- and those of the opposite, less compatible personality type may find it harder to adjust to life, therefore leading to more suffering.

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@Render,

What many of you seems to confuse are low IQ for ignorence, there's this saying "happily ignorent".

Besides by saying low IQ equal happiness, would imply that ALL high IQ people of all time would be unhappy, which I would totally refude.

1 Reply

@HexHammer,

I dont think I agree that leading oneself to anxiety is necessarly a marker of intelligence, though I understand where you're coming from. I do think that people that tend to think deeper or simply think more can end up less "care free" I guess.
Personally I suffer quite a bit from over analyzing things and often causing problems in the present by worrying about and analyzing the potential future. Frankly the way I see it is I would've been perhaps more intelligent if I had the ability to control this and NOT let it make my life occasionally miserable. Intelligence to me would be having the capacity to recognize everything that is necessary but never to a point of it leading to an anxiety or obsessive over-thinking. Using your mind in a way that helps you solve your problems but in a stable, controlled and not obsessive way would have more to do with intelligence in my opinion.

I think its possible that intelligence is related to consciousness...if consciousness has to do with the ability to self reflect, the more thinking capacity one has, the more (and more deeply) one he is able to reflect. no?

1 Reply

@Razzleg,

Razzleg;167598 wrote:

Is ignorance bliss? Sometimes, I suppose, but it's a matter of circumstance and the nature of the problems confronting one that determine that. One might ask if problems of which one is unaware present a problem. Of course, sometimes they will, and sometimes not so much.

I do not think that intelligence is immediately tied to an entity's being alive or conscious, but I assume you are referring to something more like a persons capacity to register the intensity of an experience, or the vividness of their perceptions, and its relationship to their IQ. I'm still going to go with "no" on this one. A child prodigy and a poor fumbler like myself can both have the same amount of fun playing chess. And even if the better player can more easily predict the outcome of a match, that does not prevent either of us from having a similar appreciation for the beauty of the game.

I guess my initial response would be to say that a lower IQ would indeed correlate with a lowered capacity to suffer in that a higher IQ means a greater capacity to consider more variables simultaneously (in other words, a greater capacity to worry). Thus, I would be unsurprised to see a correlation between IQ and neuroticism for instance.

However, a lower IQ also correlates with lower economic performance leading to, basically, a harder and more stress-filled life. Thus, any gains, in terms of lack of suffering that are incurred with a lower IQ are probably more than compensated for by an increase in the amount of sh*t one has to deal with.

I suppose that, from the above, we might surmise that those who suffer least are rich thick people and those who suffer most are poor clever people.

1 Reply

@Render,

salima wrote:

-if all you have to worry about is your own selfish needs there is a lot less to worry about

Not necessarily! Suppose you're a really greedy, selfish person. There's a lot to worry about, since there's so much you want! Smile

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@Render,

The most important factor is not intelligence but love/hate, I think. The intelligent are prone to contempt for the less intelligent, and prone also to overrate the significance of their gift. I think that Wisdom is accessible to all sorts of types, low-IQ or high, and that this is simply more important than intelligence, even if not as well paid. Of course not all intelligent people are well paid. Sometimes they read books or post on a philosophy forum when they could be seeking money......but maybe I'm just not intelligent enough to see that I'm not intelligent. :flowers:

1 Reply

@Reconstructo,

Reconstructo;172613 wrote:

The most important factor is not intelligence but love/hate, I think. The intelligent are prone to contempt for the less intelligent, and prone also to overrate the significance of their gift. I think that Wisdom is accessible to all sorts of types, low-IQ or high, and that this is simply more important than intelligence, even if not as well paid. Of course not all intelligent people are well paid. Sometimes they read books or post on a forums when they could be seeking money......but maybe I'm just not intelligent enough to see that I'm not intelligent. :flowers:

On what basis do you make the generalised assertion the the more intelligent are prone to contempt for the less intelligent?

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Does low intelligence(IQ) mean less suffering?

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