The genuine polymath is still one in a million
spectator.co.uk
The genuine polymath is still one in a million
1–10 of 67 posts
Re: The genuine polymath is still one in a million
#2Looks like a case of an attention-grabbing headline not written by the article author. The book review itself seems to argue that the idea of polymathy can no longer be applied at all today.
Re: The genuine polymath is still one in a million
#3Looks like a case of an attention-grabbing headline not written by the article author. The book review itself seems to argue that the idea of polymathy can no longer be applied at all today.
I was about to say that. If a genuine polymath were 1 in a million we should have 7000 von Neumanns right now.
Re: The genuine polymath is still one in a million
#4Looks like a case of an attention-grabbing headline not written by the article author. The book review itself seems to argue that the idea of polymathy can no longer be applied at all today.
I was about to say that. If a genuine polymath were 1 in a million we should have 7000 von Neumanns right now.
Maybe they're all working in sweatshops or mining cobalt.
Re: The genuine polymath is still one in a million
#5Looks like a case of an attention-grabbing headline not written by the article author. The book review itself seems to argue that the idea of polymathy can no longer be applied at all today.
I was about to say that. If a genuine polymath were 1 in a million we should have 7000 von Neumanns right now.
For the past few decades, we've absorbed them into adtech.
Re: The genuine polymath is still one in a million
#6Looks like a case of an attention-grabbing headline not written by the article author. The book review itself seems to argue that the idea of polymathy can no longer be applied at all today.
I was about to say that. If a genuine polymath were 1 in a million we should have 7000 von Neumanns right now.
You know we might just have 7000 von Neumanns among us, but may be unable to recognize them. The vast majority of 7+ billion people on the planet are unknown to everyone some except family and a couple of friends.
The adage "Popular does not equal good" has never been more relevant.
Re: The genuine polymath is still one in a million
#7[deleted]
Re: The genuine polymath is still one in a million
#8Earlier quoted context omitted.
I was about to say that. If a genuine polymath were 1 in a million we should have 7000 von Neumanns right now.
For the past few decades, we've absorbed them into adtech.
Only in HN is the notion that the "geniuses" of this generation are working for the FAANGs, sure, some may be, but I am willing to bet 99% of them are not.
Re: The genuine polymath is still one in a million
#9Earlier quoted context omitted.
For the past few decades, we've absorbed them into adtech.
Only in HN is the notion that the "geniuses" of this generation are working for the FAANGs, sure, some may be, but I am willing to bet 99% of them are not.
I think it might be an allusion to the Jeff Hammerbacher quote "The best minds of my generation are thinking about how to make people click ads".
Re: The genuine polymath is still one in a million
#10>In fact these days we are all that man or woman; you only need to resort to Wikipedia to realise how outdated the idea of knowing everything — or indeed anything — has become.
The word is polymath, like polyglot. We don't expect a polyglot to speak all languages.
Leonardo won't have known everything either.