Intelligence and mental illness

maeve99

Do you think that geniuses are more likely to be insane or struggle with mental issues? They say many pioneers in science like Newton, Darwin, Tesla, and Einstein, Van Gogh all had autism or struggled with severe mental illness.

I think the most famous modern day case is the Unabomber. High IQ and seemed destined for success until he was cruelly experimented on.

Wibbs

Some no doubt, but I'm not so sure it's a pattern, more a popular meme of the "tortured artist", "genius is close to madness" idea. Take Van Gogh, yes he suffered terribly on and off from his demons, but he's almost become the poster boy for tortured artist. It makes for a great tale, especially as he died "unknown". The sad thing is if he'd only lived a little longer* he would have seen himself become very popular indeed. Interest was already starting. If you look at other giants of the art world including his contemporaries the vast majority were perfectly fine and within the bounds of normal. When it was more a trade and profession than some vaunted calling, most, at least the halfway successful guys were well paid upstanding middle class boyos(much fewer women in the past). Some were hedonists, but most weren't. Some were eccentric, but most weren't. Picasso, the giant of mondernism was a horn dog, but his fame and wealth encouraged that. Full rock star mode.

If you look at the renaissance dudes, most were pretty normal for their times. Leonardo was a gay lad which would have been difficult enough back then, but he was very well liked by people in general, even when he stiffed them for the bill(which was often) and none of his contemporaries described him as troubled. Quite the opposite. Life and soul apparently. Michaelangelo could be a bit of a boor alright. He out catholicked the pope(not hard back then 😁) lived the life of a poor monk almost to the point of squalor, though many religious types would have been similar. Never married, though wrote endless professions of love to one bloke, then got into a later correspondence with a noble woman and said his biggest regret was never kissing her lips the way he had her hand. OK so Mick was a bit odd.. 😁 Raphael was well liked by all too, had a load of affairs, was in love with one woman for a long time, liked a drink. No signs of mental issues. Titian was a solidly middle class lad, married for love(well had an affair with her, then she got sick and he figured make an honest woman of her), had a few kids. His first wife died and he remarried and may have had a child with his housekeeper. Kept ticking along until his 90's whereby he died of the plague. Well to be fair when you're near one hundred... Tintoretto was a seemingly happily married well off guy, another pleasant chap by all accounts, fond of funny tales and jokes. Not a lot of tortured artists in evidence.

*Aside: There's a theory he didn't actually kill himself. That instead he met and went drinking with two teenagers he knew(and lord knows Vinnie liked a drop), one of whom was obsessed with being a cowboy and in some drunken accident a pistol belonging to him discharged and hit Vincent. On his deathbed when visited by police he stated "don't blame anyone else, I alone did it". He also said he had gone painting that day but his canvas, easel and kit were in his lodgings. He had staggered home after the shooting and where he usually worked was a good few miles away. The bullet to his stomach was at an odd angle for a self inflicted wound and he had no powder burns on his body or his hand. If the first shot hadn't killed him quickly, why didn't he fire a second one, rather than stagger home to his house to die a few days later? Plus there was no record of him ever mentioning, never mind having a pistol and being well known for being a troubled soul, nobody in the area would likely have sold or given him one. The pistol vanished, though was "apparently" found a few years back. He was also a deeply religious man who had said suicide was a mortal sin in letters to his brother. In my mind this theory holds more water. I don't doubt because of his miseries he had a death wish of sorts, but he had been apparently on the mend. In this accident scenario he may have thought it was simply his fate and said it was self inflicted so the youngfellas wouldn't get in trouble. He could be a boor, but he had a lot of kindness in him too.

bnt

Well, yeah, hence the old saying “ignorance is bliss”.

One definition of intelligence is the ability to absorb information and process it in to knowledge, and eventually wisdom. In other words, the more intelligent have a better chance of understanding just how bad things really are.