Terence Tao, at 8 years old (1984) [pdf]

Post by tptacek » Wed, Feb 25, 2026, 4:35 PM UTC

rowanG077 wrote: post #315

somenameforme wrote: post #313

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The logic in my claim is that the overwhelming majority of people will reach nowhere even remotely near to their genetic potential in literally anything. You can see this in any endeavor where performance can be objectively measured - chess is the obvious one. A 2000 rated player is not much more than a strong amateur, but that already leaves one in like the 90th+ percentile for a game that millions of people work an…

This was not undergraduate math in my case, but I still don't agree. I don't think anyone of average intelligence can excel at undergraduate math. It of course depends on the degree and the school. Can anyone with average intelligence excel at an undergraduate math course in community college for their psychology degree? Probably yes. But an undergraduate math course at oxford as part of a maths degree? Not for sure…

Post by jama211 » Wed, Feb 25, 2026, 6:38 PM UTC

drysine wrote: post #132

jama211 wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t say everyone has the same mental ability. But I stand by my point. Those people you mentioned might be dimwitted in part _ because_ their lack of enthusiasm for learning is low, so they didn’t do it. I don’t care how smart you are, effort matters.

Yeah, Fermi was such an unmotivated slacker. Relayed by Nick Metropolis: Fermi and von Neumann overlapped. They collaborated on problems of Taylor instabilities and they wrote a report. When Fermi went back to Chicago after that work he called in his very close collaborator, namely Herbert Anderson, a young Ph.D. student at Columbia, a collaboration that began from Fermi's very first days at Columbia and lasted up un…

Post by jama211 » Wed, Feb 25, 2026, 6:42 PM UTC

jonahx wrote: post #283

ileonichwiesz wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Would you ever be tempted to make such a claim (that everyone is close to the same in ability and effort is the main determiner of success) about athletes? Well yes, absolutely. People don’t do quadruple axels on the ice because they were somehow born with the ability, they can do it because they practice figure skating every day for years. Innate ability (or in this case, let’s be honest, mostly genetics determini…

> People don’t do quadruple axels on the ice because they were somehow born with the ability, they can do it because they practice figure skating every day for years. You've changed my claim. My claim isn't that world-class athletes, or even good athletes, don't have to work hard because of their talent to achieve elite levels. It's merely that talent is a huge determiner in success. It's also a huge determiner in ho…

Post by jama211 » Wed, Feb 25, 2026, 6:45 PM UTC

alisonkisk wrote: post #71

jama211 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure it works like that, I think his biggest superpower was intrinsic motivation. Any child who read maths textbooks with enthusiasm for 3-4 hours a day for years could in theory at least get close to doing what he did, but what kid had that level of motivation?

There are probably hundreds of people on this site who had the same enthusiasm for math and time dedication as Terence Tao, but lacked his extreme outlier fluid intelligence, processing speed, perfect memory, and even handwriting talent(!). Terence Tao mastered calculus at an age when most future-mathemician geniuses weren't yet strong readers of chapter books.

Post by jama211 » Wed, Feb 25, 2026, 6:46 PM UTC

bendbro wrote: post #37

jama211 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure it works like that, I think his biggest superpower was intrinsic motivation. Any child who read maths textbooks with enthusiasm for 3-4 hours a day for years could in theory at least get close to doing what he did, but what kid had that level of motivation?

I take it you've never met another human before