The ‘Mad Genius’ Mystery
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The ‘Mad Genius’ Mystery
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Re: The ‘Mad Genius’ Mystery
#2I think it's just entropy in action. Structures invariably show their cracks, whether it's a marriage or a society or any other institution. Age beats idealism into place. The world is more and more tiring the more time we partake in it. We grow weary of our jobs, our politicians let us down, and our religious leaders let the hypocrisy slip. Sometimes it leads to defeatist thinking, and sometimes it leads to drastic changes, like the proverbial midlife crises.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weltschmerz https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hikikomori https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acedia
Re: The ‘Mad Genius’ Mystery
#3I think it’s often a forgone conclusion that mathematical brilliance not born of a just hard work and normal ability often comes as a specialisation rather than as a superhuman power. I.e. genius to normal intellect is what a GPU is to a CPU.
Re: The ‘Mad Genius’ Mystery
#4I think it's just entropy in action. Structures invariably show their cracks, whether it's a marriage or a society or any other institution. Age beats idealism into place. The world is more and more tiring the more time we partake in it. We grow weary of our jobs, our politicians let us down, and our religious leaders let the hypocrisy slip. Sometimes it leads to defeatist thinking, and sometimes it leads to drastic…
>> Age beats idealism into place.
This is true. Also, it's practically impossible for idealistic people to make an impact in this world. Nobody who has power trusts idealists because they are difficult to predict and impossible to control. You can't just throw money at an idealist to keep them in line with your financial interests; they are unreliable cogs in the engines of capitalism.
Those who succeed in this society are opportunists who pose as idealists. They are people who can selectively signal idealism when engaging with the masses but who can also clearly signal opportunism when engaging with the powerful few.
That's why hypocrites rule the world.
Re: The ‘Mad Genius’ Mystery
#5The parts about Grothendieck are interesting.
Re: The ‘Mad Genius’ Mystery
#6I think it's just entropy in action. Structures invariably show their cracks, whether it's a marriage or a society or any other institution. Age beats idealism into place. The world is more and more tiring the more time we partake in it. We grow weary of our jobs, our politicians let us down, and our religious leaders let the hypocrisy slip. Sometimes it leads to defeatist thinking, and sometimes it leads to drastic…
>> Age beats idealism into place. This is true. Also, it's practically impossible for idealistic people to make an impact in this world. Nobody who has power trusts idealists because they are difficult to predict and impossible to control. You can't just throw money at an idealist to keep them in line with your financial interests; they are unreliable cogs in the engines of capitalism. Those who succeed in this socie…
Don’t you think that we got things like women’s suffrage, paid vacations, democracy, public healthcare, free public education, modern medicine, engineering, etc precisely because idealists can have an impact?
Re: The ‘Mad Genius’ Mystery
#7Earlier quoted context omitted.
>> Age beats idealism into place. This is true. Also, it's practically impossible for idealistic people to make an impact in this world. Nobody who has power trusts idealists because they are difficult to predict and impossible to control. You can't just throw money at an idealist to keep them in line with your financial interests; they are unreliable cogs in the engines of capitalism. Those who succeed in this socie…
Don’t you think that we got things like women’s suffrage, paid vacations, democracy, public healthcare, free public education, modern medicine, engineering, etc precisely because idealists can have an impact?
"Women’s suffrage, paid vacations, democracy, public healthcare, free public education" are just results of societies getting richer. Luxuries that become affordable for regular people.
There has been some idealism in tech, and I don't mean just modern tech, even long before the first flight, but you can't say that it's wasn't also being beaten into place.
Re: The ‘Mad Genius’ Mystery
#8Earlier quoted context omitted.
>> Age beats idealism into place. This is true. Also, it's practically impossible for idealistic people to make an impact in this world. Nobody who has power trusts idealists because they are difficult to predict and impossible to control. You can't just throw money at an idealist to keep them in line with your financial interests; they are unreliable cogs in the engines of capitalism. Those who succeed in this socie…
Don’t you think that we got things like women’s suffrage, paid vacations, democracy, public healthcare, free public education, modern medicine, engineering, etc precisely because idealists can have an impact?
Much of what you said doesn’t have idealistic roots. Democracy is by nature pragmatic, for instance. Engineers and physicians will generally employ whatever tool works best as well.
Re: The ‘Mad Genius’ Mystery
#9[deleted]
Re: The ‘Mad Genius’ Mystery
#10One thing that fascinates me how their 'mechanistic' viewpoints reflects into their morals and ethics.
People like Grothendieck and Grigori Perelman, and others often stand alone against customs and norms and they get really disappointed at some time when they realize that other people don't just act morally against all odds if they know it's right thing to do. People with mentalistic viewpoint have inclination to follow the opinions, lifestyles and prejudices of their time and place even if they have the clarity to see the wrongs.
You can see the same in more functional form in people like Einstein or Bernard Russel. Bernard Russel spend a year in China because his clarity of perception was hurting all causes and alienated him from everyone.