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How Geniuses Think

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Re: How Geniuses Think

#51

Post by zobzu »

ericHosick wrote: post #15

I think Genius is the ability to take two different ideas, merge them, and come up with a new idea: invention through prediction. Children are amazing at this until it is torn out of them via the education system, peers and adults (in general).

I think a lot is due to side effects, such as the need to fit in / be like everyone else. The easiness of following what's already there, basically, the laziness of the mind.

The laziness of the mind which so many of us are taking advantage of to control people, as it's so easy to let others think on your behalf.

And then again, this makes you right: the education system was made precisely for this. The education system might be actually one of those "genius" ideas.

By formatting people and putting some barriers in their minds, you make them controllable and productive, and thus, you may actually advance humanity in some ways. But at which cost?

Re: How Geniuses Think

#52

Post by mattmanser »

harscoat wrote: post #44
jacquesm wrote: post #32

Think of 'genius' as something you get for free. You can make up for that lack to a certain extent by applying yourself. A person applying themselves with merely average innate ability more often than not will outperform a person born with some windfall. This goes for money, brains, the lot. Apply yourself, that's half the battle. Plenty of people never learn to apply themselves and that includes plenty of geniuses a…

cf. Talent is overrated Geof Colvin, 2008 & "Deliberate Practice" in the making of an expert , Harvard Business Review, K Anders Ericsson, 2008 http://www.coachingmanagement.nl/The%20Making%20of%20an%20Ex...

And hard work oversold.

Re: How Geniuses Think

#53

Post by pippy »

jacquesm wrote: post #32

Think of 'genius' as something you get for free. You can make up for that lack to a certain extent by applying yourself. A person applying themselves with merely average innate ability more often than not will outperform a person born with some windfall. This goes for money, brains, the lot. Apply yourself, that's half the battle. Plenty of people never learn to apply themselves and that includes plenty of geniuses a…

Many of the greatest people in arts, sciences, mathematics are simply people who worked hard and thought outside the box. There's a little bit of luck there too as it's random if another will recognise a person for their hard work. Even after they die, for example Gregor Mendel: a monk who discovered the principals of genetics was realised to be brilliant posthumously.

Simply measuring a score on an IQ test isn't good enough. Someone who can't actively use intelligence might as well not have it.

Re: How Geniuses Think

#54

Post by mustafa0x »

bane wrote: post #40

I've long thought that the model of "genius" as a "really smart person" was a hopelessly flawed model. There are simply too many different kinds and measures of "smartness" to collapse all of them under such a simple umbrella. For example, consider the notion that IQ is a measure of capacity. To wit, let's use an extended and natural analogy -- a container. Consider a notional container measured only by its depth. A…

> but the nature of their intelligence couldn't be more different.

This statement is false. They could be more different in ways you can't even imagine, for no one currently completely understands the nature of intelligence.

Re: How Geniuses Think

#55

Post by joe_the_user »

What an empty and contentless post!

It isn't that we should dismiss the unique contributions of people like "Einstein, Edison, daVinci, Darwin, Picassos, Michelangelo, Galileo, Freud, Mozart et all". These individuals certainly made contributions beyond what be measured by a number-of-manipulations-per-second IQ test and some of these approaches can even be somewhat systematized as "lateral thinking", "wholistic thinking" "getting outside the box" and variety of others.

But lumping these high-performing individuals together with the single glittering generality "genius" leaves us less enlightened for the trouble. Edison and Einstein, for example, were worlds apart and while we can find commonalities between them, we can find commonalities between any two people. And there we are. At another logical level, a "genius" confronted with some given problem might say "what do these things have in common" yes but a moron, an opportunist and a lazy thinker might do the same. One more try folks.

Re: How Geniuses Think

#56

Post by repos »

All these comments seem to be missing the point.. Sure these aren't the traits that make up 'genius, sure 'genius' probably can't even be quantified or reduced to this level, but nonetheless these are all qualities we can learn from and adapt as we pursue our own paths.

Re: How Geniuses Think

#57

Post by K2h »

I really like the point that there are often more than one possibly "right answers" and many people look to give the same answer everyone else is giving.

..others, look for other, strange, non traditional right answers. I like those people.

Re: How Geniuses Think

#58

Post by [deleted] »

jacquesm wrote: post #32

Think of 'genius' as something you get for free. You can make up for that lack to a certain extent by applying yourself. A person applying themselves with merely average innate ability more often than not will outperform a person born with some windfall. This goes for money, brains, the lot. Apply yourself, that's half the battle. Plenty of people never learn to apply themselves and that includes plenty of geniuses a…

[deleted]

Re: How Geniuses Think

#59

Post by tehayj »

harscoat wrote: post #44
jacquesm wrote: post #32

Think of 'genius' as something you get for free. You can make up for that lack to a certain extent by applying yourself. A person applying themselves with merely average innate ability more often than not will outperform a person born with some windfall. This goes for money, brains, the lot. Apply yourself, that's half the battle. Plenty of people never learn to apply themselves and that includes plenty of geniuses a…

cf. Talent is overrated Geof Colvin, 2008 & "Deliberate Practice" in the making of an expert , Harvard Business Review, K Anders Ericsson, 2008 http://www.coachingmanagement.nl/The%20Making%20of%20an%20Ex...

Never forget the lazy genius that simply doesn't feel like sharing his wealth of insight with noobs.

Re: How Geniuses Think

#60

Post by ez77 »

jacquesm wrote: post #32

Think of 'genius' as something you get for free. You can make up for that lack to a certain extent by applying yourself. A person applying themselves with merely average innate ability more often than not will outperform a person born with some windfall. This goes for money, brains, the lot. Apply yourself, that's half the battle. Plenty of people never learn to apply themselves and that includes plenty of geniuses a…

"The best part: whether or not you apply yourself is under your control."

That assumes free will... It may seem an absurd topic, but it's far from closed [1].

[1] http://philpapers.org/surveys/results.pl (search "free will")

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