The following is just a personal reflection, make of it what you
will.
Happiness. It can be seen as biochemical in nature, and it can be
characterized and produced in two ways. Transientness and level of
stability (baseline level of contentment(?)) relate to how it may be
characterized, whereas, an internal/external (some would say that this
effect just involves an interrelationship between the two) mental
representation concerns the manner in which it is produced. Now
because there are some people that don't sound like broken records
(not so much care for the object of obtaining fast girls and fast
cars, etc), the conditions unto which these classifications are met,
ultimately differ (obviously).
"But the key word is "seen": intelligence and educational attainment
doesn't correlate with happiness, and for anyone that has an I.Q. over
115, which is about a standard deviation on most I.Q."
From my perspective, even though intelligence may not directly
correlate with happiness, I can imagine that self-actualization does.
So people with varying levels of intelligence who have a relatively
decent grasp of there own potential and goals to suit, would obviously
place different limitations on themselves. Wherein, someone whom was
more intelligent, to do justice here, would have higher mountains to
climb when it comes to attaining a kind of 'stable happiness' that is
so popular to speak of these days. For me, I fall into the group of
people that realize that most activities involving stimulation of the
happiness vein are of illusory form only and contribute nothing to the
overall 'happiness' (growth) of the human race. In an attempt to
ingratiate myself with something that is more perceivable value I've
decided that I want to contribute to human understanding in a
meaningful way (radicool invention and whatnot). Only this would give
me irredeemable happiness, in a sense. Yes, I am an idealist, and yes,
I am a dreamer (all day, every day), let's just get that out of the
way. So its a no brainer that if I can undertake an activity that is
potentially going to improve the likelihood of this, well, "ready or
not, here I come, there will be no
hiding from me today".
Am I happy now? Well, in the most unglorified way of saying it, I
think I am content. There are many things I could be unhappy about,
but I know enough about the human brain and its susceptibility to bias
and the many ways it manifests to realize that Mr. Sad is quite a
silly game to play (although, bipolar does not help here), if you can
otherwise avoid doing so. Do I think that with this understanding I am
not susceptible to cognitive errors that arise out of personal bias?
Definitely not, I'm only more aware of them. Sometimes this makes me
more susceptible (e.g. false sense of security).
" As far as I can tell, the best way to get around those are just
mindfulness and gratitude, not N-Back."
These two qualities definitely come before n-back and its related
connotations.
"It seems to me as if intelligence isn't that important for acquiring
things other than status signals, if, once again, the goal is to lead
a happy or content life, relatively free from stress or won’t."
Status, pffft. Don't care. At the end of the day there is just me and
my limited (I mean this seriously) thoughts and what I have managed to
complete in my life. I will be my biggest judge, no one else.
"So N- Back is time wasted, or at least better spent elsewhere.
Perhaps there is some greater sense of self-actualization that one
tries to appeal to, when one does dual n-back -- how far does the
rabbit hole goal for my brain?"
Yep. You didn't whack your thumb with the hammer there! Drugs though?
Hmm, I would think that currently, what is available only lasts as
long as the transient euphoria one feels when they laugh. I tend to
think (or hope - who knows) that n-back/mental exercise is perhaps
instead more comparable to the duration of more salient 'happiness'
activities.
"I'm a young and arrogant lad with no dependents, so when I enter uni
and get a real job"
What is a "real job" young buck? (I am also young and naive, an idea
which is enforced by this latest post (maybe even enhanced)).
"Just trying to figure it out now."
People can scoff at the following comment if they want but, maybe the
act of trying to "figure it all out" is what's important and that even
though there may be no related conclusion, being uncompromisingly
relentless here may just be the life that's worth living and not the
one that was decided at age 18-20.
I'll let you decide what the implications of the last comment may be.
genvirO