When it comes to achieving happiness, extremely high intelligence can be a liability, because it is often accompanied by introversion, resulting in limited social skills, feelings of isolation, and a tendency toward depression. Alan Turing (featured in the movie The Imitation Game), Ludwig Boltzmann (developer of statistical mechanics in quantum physics), and Yutaka Taniyama (known for the Taniyama-Shimura conjecture) committed suicide at ages 41, 62, and 31 respectively. Mathematicians like Kurt Gödel (known for his incompleteness theorems) and Georg Cantor (developer of set theory and transfinite numbers) both grappled with episodes of insanity that ultimately led to their death. The unhappiness experienced by many highly intelligent individuals was captured by Einstein in his tribute to Max Planck:* (reference given below)
One of the strongest motives that leads men to art and science is escape from everyday life with its painful crudity and hopeless dreariness. Such men make this cosmos and its construction the pivot of their emotional life, in order to find the peace and security which they cannot find in the narrow whirlpool of personal experience.
Of course, many other highly intelligent individuals are so happy in life as to pursue the goal of increasing human longevity. In 2013, Google created the subsidiary company Calico whose mandate was to study ageing and age-related diseases with the long-term aim of extending the human life-span. It seems reasonable to conclude that the many highly intelligent people who are working toward this goal must believe that life is worth extending in duration. Yet, undermining the well-being and self-satisfaction of many highly intelligent people, especially during times of stress, is the haunting adage, “If ignorance is bliss; then ‘tis folly to be wise.”
For an example of one of the most famous and successful people who suffered from depression, visit: https://www.intelligence-and-iq.com/can-you-be-depressed-if-youre-intelligent-but-not-very-successful-in-life/
Reference: The quote from Einstein: see Isaacson, Walter. 2007. Einstein: His Life & Universe. New York: Simon & Schuster. p. 233.
