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Comment by dijit | Hacker News Reader

Seems extremely odd because my anecdotal experience is that the people who prefer to isolate are on average slightly more intelligent than those that prefer to be around others in their free time.

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In my experience people who are isolated tend to be intelligent but have cognitive distortions like anxiety, depression, etc, which takes up their internal cpu. People who have a robust social life, on their terms are a distinct group separate from people who have a social life that’s less fulfilling than they want it to be.

The definition for socially isolated seems fairly extreme and unlikely to be met by anyone still working, “People were classified as socially isolated if they were living alone, had social contact less than monthly and participated in social activities less than weekly.”

The mean age was 57. I’m guessing that the people were older and less healthy than the typical smart introverted HN type you might be picturing. If you know elderly people who become isolated this rings true. In fact I think that at any age social interaction with other humans is one of the great sources of novelty in life that can help keep us sharp.

> people who prefer to isolate are on average slightly more intelligent than those that prefer to be around others in their free time

But that's the rub; it's the forced isolation of those that prefer to be around others that aren't going to fare well. Based on your observation these folks are already not the most intelligent of the bunch, I suspect it goes downhill from there when pushed into solitude.

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