Source: Bet On It
by Bryan Caplan
“How would you even begin to answer this challenge? It’s tempting to stonewall with: ‘I have horrible problems.’ But the obvious reply is: ‘If you’re so smart, why haven’t you solved these problems? Why didn’t you foresee these problems and avoid them in the first place?’ After all, smart people are good at solving, foreseeing, and avoiding problems. Almost by definition. To salvage the spirit of the ‘I have horrible problems’ response, you’ve got to switch to: ‘I’m extremely unlucky.’ Even though you’re really smart, the problems that afflict you aren’t just horrible. They’re also horribly unsolvable, horribly unforeseeable, and/or horribly unavoidable. While this isn’t impossible, it’s rarely plausible.” (08/25/25)
https://www.betonit.ai/p/if-youre-so-smart-why-arent-you-happy