Would life be easy if you were incredibly smart?

Question

I read part of this book called "flowers for algernon". it's really sad. it's about a man named charlie who is mentally challenged. after an operation, he turns into a super genius until he finds out he will die because of the operation. would life be easy if you were really smart? it seems like charlie only had problems when he was smart.

Answer 1

life would all be made for you, after all everyone can do anything any one else can

Answer 2

How did you know whether Charlie did not just choose to see only the problems when he became smart? Some were not problems. Some were avenues for growth - opportunities.

We are all in a field of flowers and weeds. Some thinks it's all flowers. Some thinks it's all weeds. Derived realities.

Smartness is relative. You are not really smart if you don't know how to be smart.

You don't really lose when you die. You don't really win when you live.

Answer 3

All I can say is that it gets lonelier the smarter you are. And there are many reasons why this is so. In this sense alone being incredibly smart makes life hard, not easy.

But that said, I prefer smarts over being retarded any day. Retarded people suffer too and they can have it worse than the smart people who have the abilities and the option to do better.


see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flowers_for_Algernon

addendum: I sincerely hope this Q doesn't turn into a pity party for the super-intelligent.

Just for contrast, imagine the answers you'd get if you had asked the Q: Would life be easy if you were incredibly retarded?"

Answer 4

Actually, I think it is much harder, because the more a person learns, the more they realize how screwed up things are, and how good they could be. I often tell my friends that I would much rather be ignorant ("ignorance is bliss") becuase then I wouldn't know how many times mankind has been deprived chances for the scales of inequality to be balanced, only to have those chances squashed by governments, religions, prejudices, greed, corporate monopolies, etc. I think intelligence can be a burden, and the only people for whom it makes life easier are those who have no morals, and use it to commit sophisticated crimes. If you are really smart, and have good morals, life can be very "challenging" to say the least.

Answer 5

That was the whole idea of the story. If you are smart you are aware of everything around you, and you can compare one type of lifestyle with another and feel shortchanged.

I highly recommend Born on a Blue Day by Daniel Tammet, The Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon, and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon. Each of these books deals with Autism, a crippling brain syndrome. Born on a Blue Day is Daniel Tammet's autobiography. He was an autistic savant, but he came out of it. His book describes the world as he saw it before and how he sees it now. The Speed of Dark was a fantastic book which follows the story of a high-functioning Autistic man from his normal life to life after being "cured" of his Autism. The Curious Incident... is about a young man who has Asperger's Syndrome/high functioning Autism who finds a neighbor's dog murdered.

If you are interested, you can watch Mercury Rising with Bruce Willis and Rain Man with Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise. Mercury Rising involves a young boy with autism and Rain Man is based on the true story of the experiences of an autistic man and his brother.

Answer 6

Intelligence is like a kind of perception. You can perceive and understand things before others can at times.

So imagine if you could see what was happening a thousand miles away. Would your life necessarily be easy? Though you might see many beautiful things you never could before, you would also be able to see many ugly ones you never could either.

To make matters worse, the more you see that others cannot, the less people you have who can understand and sympathize you - to reach a pinnacle is to truly be alone.

So is life easy if you are smart? In some ways it becomes easier, and in some ways it becomes harder. It's a trade.

You'll note, however, that even Charlie wanted to remain intelligent and remain alive. Many dumb people wish to be smart, but few smart people wish to be dumb. If it is a trade, it would seem that most find it to be a profitable one, overall.

Answer 7

There are some schools of thought that believe humans define their existance by their hardships. We look to find conflict and strife in every situation. Is life easier or harder with or without money? Is life easier or harder with or without a companion?

I think the answer is it'd be different. You'd find problems with different things. But I cannot believe it'd be any easier or harder.

Answer 8

Life's not easier for smart people...they just have a different set of problems to deal with than less smart people have.
"He who increases knowledge increases sorrow"...(from somewhere in the book of Ecclesiastes)

Answer 9

when you are smart you want to know everything about everything around you... and everybody expects beyond excellent work from you compared to "dumber" people. no one expects a dumb person to do a 20 page report on stuff like evolution and so on...
"the smarter you get the more complicated the world is"
im not sure where i heard it.

Answer 10

I doubt it..... some of the savants, for example, those super-high-IQ folks, probably spend their lives second guessing everyone and everything. I'd rather think that at least some of the world's greatest decisions were made by honest , sincere common sense folks whose "agenda" was simply the common good and nothing else, even if they didn't all have straight As, PhD.s, etc.

Answer 11

Ignorance is bliss............at least the saying goes. If you're not smart enough to know that you are unhappy or that the world or people around you are. Then I would have to say yes that you would be happier dumb, but since you have to ask yourself would you rather be dumb and happy or smart and not unhappy but aware of your problems. I choose the latter.