I don't downvote, even if I could. However, this comment is exceptionally rude, disrespectful and out of place here on HN. [EDIT] Specifically I don't appreciate the way you changed the narrative.
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What makes a genius?
31–40 of 60 posts
Re: What makes a genius?
#32Controlled Shizophrenia. The ability to see connections where there are none, a conspiracy of unrelated things to be mated and the ability to step back from this and see it for what its worth.
Can not be learned, and not having it- and the related manias and depressions, is actually a blessing.
Re: What makes a genius?
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
The trouble is it's hard to know how many other people had exactly the same characteristics but not the luck. Without knowing that, we don't know how useful this definition of "genius" is.
In the case of mathematical accomplishments, there is an objective way to predict people's future possibilities: How young and how well does the person do in International Math Olympiads? These Fields medalists all fit the pattern: Maryam Mirzakhani, Grigori Perelman, Terence Tao. Check out others at IMO Hall of Fame--all top listers I checked are doing very well, although many of them are still young and studying. […
What portion of gifted children participate in the math Olympiad?
Re: What makes a genius?
#34I don't downvote, even if I could. However, this comment is exceptionally rude, disrespectful and out of place here on HN. [EDIT] Specifically I don't appreciate the way you changed the narrative.
We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14172786 and marked it off-topic.
Re: What makes a genius?
#35Controlled Shizophrenia. The ability to see connections where there are none, a conspiracy of unrelated things to be mated and the ability to step back from this and see it for what its worth. Can not be learned, and not having it- and the related manias and depressions, is actually a blessing.
I recently read about the 'schizotypic' brain type, which was described essentially as having a lower threshold to accept new ideas. I much prefer that term to telling people I'm 'on the schizophrenic spectrum'
The greater tendency towards neuroses I think everyone could do without, but learning meditation young and practicing it consistently seems an effective way of dealing with it.
Re: What makes a genius?
#36From what I've seen, genius for me can be reduced to "what one is able to achieve in some dimension with a limited amount of instruction".
I subscribe to the idea that someone can be taught to do anything, given enough time and the right guidance. However we are all limited by our available time and our access to instructors. At the top, this becomes even more pressing - who can teach you when you're at the forefront of whatever you have chosen to specialize in? This is where genius comes in, to quote Schopenhauer, genius hits a target no one else can see... - there will come a point where you will have to be your own teacher and whether you plateau or continue to rise will depend on your being a genius.
This manifests in a whole variety of ways - for some, it may be mastering calculus as a pre-teen and while Erdos, still had good and dedicated teachers, there will many who would fail to grok the subject given the same upbringing.
For others, it is mastering the art of writing symphonies at the young age of 8 like Mozart.
My personal favourite to observe is in sports such as tennis or football where the spectator has the chance to witness moments of true technical brilliance and improvisation under very quick and stressful situations.
Re: What makes a genius?
#37I've introspected, thought, and read about this for several decades, and here is roughly what I think at present. What's perceived as genius is really a path. One either stumbles upon or is led to a certain useful mental tool, probably in very early childhood. That tool unlocks new paths, as in a video game skill tree, with new tools to be discovered and leveraged. Schoolwork looks completely different to the person…
I still credit my academic achievements to my father reading 'Dune' to me as a child, because I was fascinated by the (paraphrased) introduction to one of the chapters:
"Many comment on how quickly Paul Muad-dib learned, but they do not realize that his first lesson was in how to learn, and the first part of that lesson was believing he could learn... it is amazing how few people believe they can learn".
That book is probably the reason I treated learning as a learnable skill rather than an innate ability.
Re: What makes a genius?
#38I've introspected, thought, and read about this for several decades, and here is roughly what I think at present. What's perceived as genius is really a path. One either stumbles upon or is led to a certain useful mental tool, probably in very early childhood. That tool unlocks new paths, as in a video game skill tree, with new tools to be discovered and leveraged. Schoolwork looks completely different to the person…
I still credit my academic achievements to my father reading 'Dune' to me as a child, because I was fascinated by the (paraphrased) introduction to one of the chapters: "Many comment on how quickly Paul Muad-dib learned, but they do not realize that his first lesson was in how to learn, and the first part of that lesson was believing he could learn... it is amazing how few people believe they can learn". That book is…
My parents got me my most influential book when I was 4. "What Makes It Go? What Makes It Work? What Makes It Fly? What Makes It Float?" by Joe Kaufman. It taught me that everything has causal inner mechanisms. From then on, I had xray vision and could imagine the inner mechanisms of every object at work.
Re: What makes a genius?
#391 part inspiration, 99 parts perspiration
Why were you downvoted? While not an original idea, it does mostly represent the reality of expressed genius. Even if the 1 part inspiration is a required part (i.e. you either have that inspiration/talent/predisposition/whatever it is, or you don't), the 99 parts perspiration correctly convey that differentiation truly arises from hard work and persistence.
Many 'genius' level minds are doing absolutely nothing productive for humanity with their 'talent'.
Re: What makes a genius?
#40For anyone who came to this article hoping it might contain any actual concrete or interesting information about the nature of human intelligence: it doesn't. Go ahead and skip the read.
The article is just a tiresome romanticized rehash of the myth of genius and the associated pop-science.