I think the two could be tangentially related. Not necessarily intelligence, but constant thinking and wondering. In my own experience, I loved working on new things and learning new things. I took some time to step away, and wow did I get bored easy, and found myself zoning out thinking, even so far as doing it when others were talking to me. Sleep was impossible, and it was really easy to turn to alcohol just for the mental rest.
Even Elon Musk commented on this recently. Paraphrasing because I don't remember the quote, on Joe Rogan, he mentioned it's not so nice to be him because his mind was always working and he couldn't turn it off. It really hit home for me, and I couldn't even imagine how much worse it is for some folks, especially those who founded companies and have that stress on top.
So true. Towards the end of my doctoral thesis, I found myself brooding and gloomy, and difficult to relate to others. The same mood returns when I am intensely working on something,
Happiness, for all I know is basically the ability to ignore sad and inconvenient truths about the world around you. The smarter you are, the harder it is to maintain this delusion.
I have learnt to find some joy in watching my young kids. They haven't been corrupted/encumbered by it all. Secondly, the hope is that as they grow the world will slowly improve with them as shown by some long term data. Third, meditating helps! it helps me get out of my own thinking framework and make some breathing room for myself.
Lastly, I feel there is a very important reality that we all are largely unaware of it is that (IMHO) we live our lives in log scale, meaning generally every new experience creates much lighter impression than the one by say a few years ago. if you accept that (barring physical discomfort) world is not such a bad place compare to even a few decades ago.
World isn't perfect for sure but it is indeed eye-opening to sometimes check how much worse things were as recently as 70s and 80s. Helps to put today's issues into perspective, and be a bit more content.
