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Comment by dgfitz | Hacker News Reader

Boy does this ring true. I’ll hafta talk to my therapist about it, wonder how widely known it is.

I think this is similar to mistaken belief like there is link between "bipolar disorder and artistic ability".Kay Redfield Jamison proposes such a thesis. There is substantial number of artists who don't have bipolar as well large number of bipolar people who don't have artistic ability

I'm not saying there's a link, but that's very far from disproving a link.

How is one being a clown related to sadness if the distribution of sad people is same irrespective of profession?

"the distribution is the same" is a clear disproof of a link.

"substantial number who don't" and "large number of people who don't" is not disproof of a link.

A substantial number of people with cancer never smoked, and a large number of smokers don't get cancer. That sentence is completely true despite the strong link between the two.

Also I was specifically talking about the artists and bipolar claim, not clowns. But where is that info about the distribution of sad people? I don't see it in the article. Or was it a hypothetical?

On average everyone is the same. In reality everyone is very different. Science deals with averages. Believing in averages rather than one’s experience goes oft awry.

If the link were to be true I would believe the more bipolar you are, the more creative you should be. But we know it becomes debilitating.

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