Um, there are readers of this blog, and there are people who enjoy the “happiness of stupidity” (which is not the same as just having a low IQ; it involves other personality traits as well). I don’t think there’s much overlap between those two groups. But they are far from being the only two groups in the world, and there is no dichotomy between them.
This is interesting. When I first discovered LW, I was reading The Praise of Folly by Erasmus. He argues, among other things, that all emotions and feelings that make life worthwhile are inherently imbedded in stupidity. Love, friendship optimism and happiness require foolishness to work.
Now is it very hard to compare a sixteenth century satirical piece with a current rational argument, but I have observed that intelligence and stupidity don’t seem to be mutually exclusive.
From where comes your assumption that intelligent, rational people can’t be stupid?
Emotions don’t tend to be rational, and in the force of a strong one like love even the most intelligent and rational person can turn into an optimistic fool, sure that their loved one is infinitely more trustworthy than the average human, and statistics on adultery don’t apply in this case.
Should you try to overcome the bias of strong emotions? Can you overcome it at all? I have never seen someone immune to it. So maybe the happiness of stupidity is still available to all of us.
Um, there are readers of this blog, and there are people who enjoy the “happiness of stupidity” (which is not the same as just having a low IQ; it involves other personality traits as well). I don’t think there’s much overlap between those two groups. But they are far from being the only two groups in the world, and there is no dichotomy between them.
This is interesting. When I first discovered LW, I was reading The Praise of Folly by Erasmus. He argues, among other things, that all emotions and feelings that make life worthwhile are inherently imbedded in stupidity. Love, friendship optimism and happiness require foolishness to work. Now is it very hard to compare a sixteenth century satirical piece with a current rational argument, but I have observed that intelligence and stupidity don’t seem to be mutually exclusive. From where comes your assumption that intelligent, rational people can’t be stupid? Emotions don’t tend to be rational, and in the force of a strong one like love even the most intelligent and rational person can turn into an optimistic fool, sure that their loved one is infinitely more trustworthy than the average human, and statistics on adultery don’t apply in this case. Should you try to overcome the bias of strong emotions? Can you overcome it at all? I have never seen someone immune to it. So maybe the happiness of stupidity is still available to all of us.