10 000 hours of work(!) is a necessary(not sufficient though) condition, rather than "thinking".
Ask HN: How do geniuses think? How do you think?
11–20 of 40 posts
Re: Ask HN: How do geniuses think? How do you think?
#12You should take a look at Charlie munger.
video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6Cy7UwsRPQ
a more detailed overview of what you are looking for:
http://www.focusinvestor.com/FocusSeriesPart3.pdf (from charlie munger wiki)
Re: Ask HN: How do geniuses think? How do you think?
#13What I want to know is: how many people on HN would publicly describe themselves as a "genius"?
More like how many legitimate geniuses would actually describe themselves as a "genius"? I would say close to none.
Re: Ask HN: How do geniuses think? How do you think?
#141) There are some awesome Feynman interviews on the web.
2) My brain will refuse to learn anything unless I can understand it from first principles. I spend a long time trying to get an intuitive understanding of a problem before starting to try to solve it. When solving a problem, I talk out loud as if I'm trying to persuade another person of my argument, including responding to imagined objections or questions. Often I find myself thinking "wait, what exactly am I saying here? what do I mean by this?" I meta-think, estimating the probability of me misunderstanding something without being aware based on context (e.g. if I think something is easy when really smart people think it's hard, then I probably missed something).
Math is helpful for picking up good thinking habits.
Re: Ask HN: How do geniuses think? How do you think?
#15My Kung Fu Grandmaster said: although some people can be gifted, we apply our diligence to overcome the differences.
Re: Ask HN: How do geniuses think? How do you think?
#16There's different kinds of genius I think. You have "skill" genius where someone can play the piano, chess etc extremely well. You also have "creative" genius which is people like Einstein who makes creative new leaps. The first kind of genius seems to be genetical while the second can be learnt. I can't claim to be any kind of genius myself but creative "breakthroughs" in my experience has mostly followed the same p…
You have "skill" genius where someone can play the piano, chess etc extremely well. You also have "creative" genius which is people like Einstein who makes creative new leaps. The first kind of genius seems to be genetical while the second can be learnt.
I would think the opposite. People can get good at chess by playing a lot, but Einstein's ability seems innate.
Re: Ask HN: How do geniuses think? How do you think?
#17Everybody thinks they're highly skilled and above average. A study on hubris in academia recently showed that 95% of all university professors think they are leading their field. (They are not.) Some of my coworkers constantly babble on how super-intelligent and gifted their children are. (I've seen their offspring, they are retarded and borderline autistic.)
Listening to self-declared or celebrated "geniuses" on how a decent thought process is supposed to work, that's a really bad idea unless you're a psychologist conducting studies on pseudocompetence and illusory superiority. Many of our contemporary heroes are really just only good at one thing: self marketing.
Along those lines, I'll be the first to admit: I'm below average, in almost every single aspect of physical and mental prowess. But even with my limited capabilities I can understand how individually different people's problem solving strategies are. Just watching them may be inspiring, but it's not gonna help you be any smarter.
Re: Ask HN: How do geniuses think? How do you think?
#18There's different kinds of genius I think. You have "skill" genius where someone can play the piano, chess etc extremely well. You also have "creative" genius which is people like Einstein who makes creative new leaps. The first kind of genius seems to be genetical while the second can be learnt. I can't claim to be any kind of genius myself but creative "breakthroughs" in my experience has mostly followed the same p…
Have you actually read anything on genius, or are you just stating what "feels" right to you? Because there are many studies on this exact thing -- the "skill" genius you're describing -- that show you are exactly wrong.
It really helps to actually study something before writing a sure-sounding opinion to the internet at large.
Re: Ask HN: How do geniuses think? How do you think?
#19I don't yhink I'm a genius but I actually recently realized that I have a different thought process than most people. Interestingly enough I recently wrote my first blog post about it. You can check it out here: http://Kulpreet.com
Re: Ask HN: How do geniuses think? How do you think?
#20There's different kinds of genius I think. You have "skill" genius where someone can play the piano, chess etc extremely well. You also have "creative" genius which is people like Einstein who makes creative new leaps. The first kind of genius seems to be genetical while the second can be learnt. I can't claim to be any kind of genius myself but creative "breakthroughs" in my experience has mostly followed the same p…
Have you actually read anything on genius, or are you just stating what "feels" right to you? Because there are many studies on this exact thing -- the "skill" genius you're describing -- that show you are exactly wrong. It really helps to actually study something before writing a sure-sounding opinion to the internet at large.
This is mainly my personal view and experience although I've done some research on the subject. Regarding "skill" genius: of course you can get extremely good at anything by practice, but getting into that very last percentile seems to demand some kind of innate talent.
Chess is a good example. The Polgar sisters was groomed from from childhood by their father to become grandmasters. Studies shows that chessplayers rewire their brains to use the part normally used to recognize faces to remember positions... so you can train your chess memory.
But even though the Polgar sisters are Grandmasters they're nowhere near the raw talent of Kasparov and lately Magnus Carlsen who've defeated Karpov and become Grand Master at the age of 13 and I think now is ranked #2 in the world.
I would argue that you stand a much better chance of training your brain for creative genius (in for instance science or IT) than beating Magnus :) The same probably applies for piano etc
Bonus url: Magnus Carlsen speaks of his talent... he doesn't seem to agree with me :) http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=6187