Eliezer, I don’t think there’s a necessary tradeoff between intelligence (the academic rather than interpersonal kind) and happiness at the far nerd end of the spectrum—just that the way society is currently organized, it seems to be both true and common knowledge that there is (cf. Lara Foster’s comment). Though despite the temptation, I can’t justify dwelling on this phenomenon for too long—any more than on physical appearance, parental wealth, or any other aspect of our lives that we might love to “choose wisely” but can’t. Unlike many other accidents of birth, one could even regard this one as “cosmically justified” if one saw intelligence as having a value of its own, independent from happiness. If you disagree, then yes, I might need a better argument than Pfffft.
Eliezer, I don’t think there’s a necessary tradeoff between intelligence (the academic rather than interpersonal kind) and happiness at the far nerd end of the spectrum—just that the way society is currently organized, it seems to be both true and common knowledge that there is (cf. Lara Foster’s comment). Though despite the temptation, I can’t justify dwelling on this phenomenon for too long—any more than on physical appearance, parental wealth, or any other aspect of our lives that we might love to “choose wisely” but can’t. Unlike many other accidents of birth, one could even regard this one as “cosmically justified” if one saw intelligence as having a value of its own, independent from happiness. If you disagree, then yes, I might need a better argument than Pfffft.