LOL, oh, HN commenters, please never change.
Isn't that a bit of an ironic tautology, fellow commenter?
Both geniuses and madmen pay attention to what others ignore
11–20 of 208 posts
Re: Both geniuses and madmen pay attention to what others ignore
#12I'm surprised Hemmingway was used as an example in this piece. He did believe he was being monitored or 'stalked' by the FBI. His wife/family did have him subjected to electro-shock therapy. Wasn't it later proven that Hemmingway was followed and 'harrassed' by the FBI?
The mention seems to be related to his suicide. "Crazy" might not be the appropriate word, but his suicidal idealization (see For Whom the Bell Tolls) was detrimental. He also shot his legs up while fishing with a machine gun, so he clearly did crazy things...
"Crazy" is a bad word. There's "crazy" and crazy. Hemingway was touched with unique ways of thinking, but he wasn't John Nash (with all due respect to Mr. Nash).
Re: Both geniuses and madmen pay attention to what others ignore
#13LOL, oh, HN commenters, please never change.
I think he's trying to ask for psychiatric assistance.
Re: Both geniuses and madmen pay attention to what others ignore
#14LOL, oh, HN commenters, please never change.
Hahaha
Re: Both geniuses and madmen pay attention to what others ignore
#15I think the fact that this submission is on the first page is pretty damning of the community ;)
Re: Both geniuses and madmen pay attention to what others ignore
#16This seems quite all over the place and I'm not sure what the point was. Was it that sometimes mental illness and creativity are coincident? Everything else seemed like a bunch of worldbuilding.
Over all the uniting factor seems to be having an outsiders view of the world. Creativity, or mental illness will both give you a unique view of the world. Otherwise, the writing composition is beyond me
Re: Both geniuses and madmen pay attention to what others ignore
#17Truthfully, I've found that the real difference in intelligence between people isn't so large as many people think it is. People don't generally come along and solve "intractable" problems because they're so much smarter than all the people who've tacked the problem prior to them. Instead, they approach the problem in a way that is fundamentally different. This is why outsiders are so frequently the people who make major breakthroughs in a field, and "genius" is correlated with eccentricity.
Re: Both geniuses and madmen pay attention to what others ignore
#18The article attacks the idea that genius is normal, and it maybe suggests that it would be hard to be normal and genius.
Taking the title at face value, Your not a genius if you think you are. I will say that dealing with people who don't have basic math, science, logic, physics, chemistry and philosophy understanding it's pretty easy to convince yourself that your both genius and crazy.
Re: Both geniuses and madmen pay attention to what others ignore
#19Truthfully, I've found that the real difference in intelligence between people isn't so large as many people think it is. People don't generally come along and solve "intractable" problems because they're so much smarter than all the people who've tacked the problem prior to them. Instead, they approach the problem in a way that is fundamentally different. This is why outsiders are so frequently the people who make m…
> This is why outsiders are so frequently the people who make major breakthroughs in a field, and "genius" is correlated with eccentricity.
That would be nice, if it were true. But it isn't.
Those are the stories that everybody likes though, a bit like the kid with a 25c fishing rod out-fishing adults with 100's of $ worth of gear.
But in practice, most progress in most fields is made by insiders, one tedious bit at a time.
Re: Both geniuses and madmen pay attention to what others ignore
#20Every time I read one of these articles about genius and madness, I become smug for a little while, then I get depressed because I realize that I haven't accomplished anything noteworthy, then I'm mildly reassured because occasionally my wife will spontaneously aver (contrary to all expectation) that I am a genius, then I get distracted and start chasing some ideas, then I get depressed again because, well, shit, I still haven't accomplished anything that anyone but my wife knows about, and anyway these ideas I chase are very interesting but once I've figured it out, I am satisfied and don't share it with anyone, because I don't really give a shit about becoming known as a genius, if I even am (which I doubt seriously).
Then, as a general rule, I start drinking if I have no obligations for the evening. Thankfully this evening I started drinking before I read this, so I can skip all the other stuff and just enjoy this awful feeling as I contemplate several of my friends who have accomplished things, and one of whom is actually a genius, unlike me.
Edit: Thank goodness for whisky. (Did I mention that I predicted Trump's victory back in August 2015? I'm pretty good at political predictions.) (No, I don't vote, and my predictions don't imply endorsement. All politicians suck, even those who aren't (or weren't) politicians.)
Also, if I ever accomplish anything noteworthy, I will let you poor HN comment readers know immediately.