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Re:Why aren't smart people happier? by dpe82 on Wednesday November 05, 2025 @04:36PM (#45828364)
The widely held notion that happiness (or lack thereof) is simply the result of chemical (im)balances is one of the greatest PR victories of the pharmaceutical industry.
Re:Why aren't smart people happier? by inglor_cz on Wednesday November 05, 2025 @04:56PM (#45828608)
Well, people consume cocaine for a reason. But I understand your objection. It is a bit reductive to think like this.
Re:Why aren't smart people happier? by CodeMage on Wednesday November 05, 2025 @04:58PM (#45828642)
Would you say cocaine makes those people happy?
Re:Why aren't smart people happier? by inglor_cz on Wednesday November 05, 2025 @05:03PM (#45828699)
Yes, at least some of them for some time.

I remember an old addict speaking of cocaine as if it was his only true love. Waxed poetical about it, the way we remember our first kiss.

Seems that at least some people are wired this way.

Re:Why aren't smart people happier? by lovich on Wednesday November 05, 2025 @06:45PM (#45829609)
He’s a comedian so it might just be a bit but Bert Kreischners comments on alcohol fit that description

https://youtu.be/MljeQzcmUfE

Re:Why aren't smart people happier? by koakuma-chan on Wednesday November 05, 2025 @05:04PM (#45828718)
Drugs 100% make people feel happy.
Re:Why aren't smart people happier? by lr4444lr on Wednesday November 05, 2025 @05:56PM (#45829192)
... until the CNS homeostasis stops responding to them, which is why they keep taking bigger hits. Something more complex is going on.
Re:Why aren't smart people happier? by CamperBob2 on Wednesday November 05, 2025 @04:49PM (#45828522)
What else is there?
Re:Why aren't smart people happier? by mixedCase on Wednesday November 05, 2025 @05:00PM (#45828666)
Happiness chemicals are the end result, and end result we cannot cause directly, anyway. What leads you there, how the process involves your particular brain and environment, and how it acts as a feedback loop are a higher concern.

Even if one day you could just squirt the cocktail directly into your receptors or otherwise trick them, there's more to happiness as a part of life than turning yourself into a vegetable, but I digress.

Re:Why aren't smart people happier? by koakuma-chan on Wednesday November 05, 2025 @06:32PM (#45829507)
Death is the ultimate happiness because you get to be relieved from endless suffering that life is. Other than that, yep just take some drugs.