Wouldn't einstein qualify as the most intelligent human ever lived?
He newer took an IQ test (or at least it isn't known) so nobody knows. Personally I think Mozart was smarter, but who knows.
The Unparalleled Genius of John von Neumann
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Re: The Unparalleled Genius of John von Neumann
#12Wouldn't einstein qualify as the most intelligent human ever lived?
Eugene Wigner knew both and has this to say:
"I have known a great many intelligent people in my life. I knew Planck, von Laue and Heisenberg. Paul Dirac was my brother in law; Leo Szilard and Edward Teller have been among my closest friends; and Albert Einstein was a good friend, too. But none of them had a mind as quick and acute as Jansci [John] von Neumann. I have often remarked this in the presence of those men and no one ever disputed me.
... But Einstein's understanding was deeper even than von Neumann's. His mind was both more penetrating and more original than von Neumann's. And that is a very remarkable statement. Einstein took an extraordinary pleasure in invention. Two of his greatest inventions are the Special and General Theories of Relativity; and for all of Jansci's brilliance, he never produced anything as original."
Re: The Unparalleled Genius of John von Neumann
#13You might like "Prisoner's Dilemma: John von Neumann, Game Theory, and the Puzzle of the Bomb" (https://www.amazon.com/Prisoners-Dilemma-Neumann-Theory-Puzz...)
Re: The Unparalleled Genius of John von Neumann
#14Re: The Unparalleled Genius of John von Neumann
#15Nice article. Are there any good biographies of John von Neumann that are highly recommended? EDIT: found it at the end of the article " For anyone interested in learning more about the life and work of John von Neumann, I especially recommend his friend Stanislaw Ulam’s 1958 essay John von Neumann 1903–1957 in the Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society 64 (3) pp 1–49 and the book John von Neumann by Norman Ma…
The Martian’s Daughter written by his daughter who was also an intellectual.
https://www.press.umich.edu/4655298/martians_daughter
Given the success of “The Imitation Game” and “The Theory of Everything” I’m disappointed that no one has made a compelling movie about Von Neumann who I think is a far more interesting character both mentally and in terms of personality.
Re: The Unparalleled Genius of John von Neumann
#16there's a lazy sensationalist style on that article that I find off-putting -- the relevant Wikipedia page is more sober and actually (or because of that) makes you more in awe of the man in question.
Re: The Unparalleled Genius of John von Neumann
#17tl;dr he is Turing's cooler uncle and his Wikipedia page (wow comparable to Bertrand Russell)
Re: The Unparalleled Genius of John von Neumann
#18Wouldn't einstein qualify as the most intelligent human ever lived?
Intelligence isn't a one dimensional scale. there are different types.
Its like saying 'who is the most sporty human who ever lived?'
Re: The Unparalleled Genius of John von Neumann
#19there's a lazy sensationalist style on that article that I find off-putting -- the relevant Wikipedia page is more sober and actually (or because of that) makes you more in awe of the man in question.
This article was published around his death day and is my favorite piece about him https://qualiacomputing.com/2018/06/21/john-von-neumann/
Re: The Unparalleled Genius of John von Neumann
#20Awww, I was hoping they'd mention how Neumann was keen on launching a preemptive nuclear strike against the USSR.
"“If you say why not bomb them tomorrow, I say why not today? If you say today at 5 o’clock, I say why not one o’clock?”
Hardly surprising that he was one of the influences on the character of Dr Strangelove. Was he a remarkable genius, absolutely - was he right about everything, definitely not.