Imagine that the world is a simulation that you are in, but you don’t know anything about it. Would you prefer to know this? Probably you won’t because you can’t change anything about it. In other words, you would live like how it was before this information. But maybe you would prefer to know this. You would be able to be more relaxed and you wouldn’t care about anything! Viewed from a different perspective, the world gets meaningless. In this case, knowledge makes people unhappy.
Think about a conjecture that no one knows its proof. You wonder the proof and if you learn it, you will get so happy. In this case, knowledge makes happy.
The relation between knowledge and happiness is intricate. Happiness depends on many things such as time and place. But it is a fact that happiness is one of the most important emotions in our lives. Our brains use our emotions to reach happiness. Also, there is a strong relationship between happiness and knowledge. Plato says that knowledge is one of the foundations of human happiness. I think knowledge may cause people to be both happy and unhappy. Knowledge brings more questions, and questions bring more curiosity and uncertainty. However, we, humans, are afraid of uncertainties.
Knowledge affects people’s perfectionism, and this may make them more stressed. Increased awareness may cause stress and anxiety, potentially affecting the happiness level. On the other hand, while educational level increases among people, mind gets stronger and personal growth occurs. Psychological development is crucial for a better understanding. And this may cause people to be happier. The process of psychological development frequently entails nurturing emotional intelligence and the ability to put ourselves imaginatively in another’s place.
Furthermore, same situation may evoke different emotions inside different brains. Variations in emotional reactions, can be affected by elements like personal experiences and cultural upbringing.
All in all, we can’t generalize the results of reaching information. I think the belief that knowledge makes unhappy is not true at all. We would not prefer being a microorganism, which requires less knowledge than us, to being a human!