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Both geniuses and madmen pay attention to what others ignore

nautil.us

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Re: Both geniuses and madmen pay attention to what others ignore

#41

Post by furyofantares »

godzillabrennus wrote: post #33
sverige wrote: post #20

Every 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 s…

We are all capable. Most of us just choose to drink our whiskey instead of leveling up to achieve something everyone will hear about.

The value of whiskey is pretty clear, the value of notability much less so.

Re: Both geniuses and madmen pay attention to what others ignore

#43

Post by yankeehue »

taurath wrote: post #27
sverige wrote: post #20

Every 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 s…

For some reason (probably my whiskey) your self aggrandizing comment was quite entertaining even though normally I'm put off by "I am very smart" posts.

I also found it very entertaining. But, that might just be my whiskey, err, Scotch.

Re: Both geniuses and madmen pay attention to what others ignore

#44

Post by urahara »

Psychthowaway wrote: post #22

As a public figure, it wasn't worth burning my reputation to type this out, but I think that speaks to the state of discourse around mental health today. The article is uses the word "psychopathology" which is a general term for the study of mental disorders. However I want to talk specifically about Psychopathy as a disorder, because I recently came to understand that I am a psychopath. My guess is that there are pr…

Great comment. What do you think can be done to cope with this? Maybe empathy and emotions can be learned?

Re: Both geniuses and madmen pay attention to what others ignore

#45

Post by psyc »

CuriouslyC wrote: post #17

Truthfully, 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 comment seems to be begging the question by tacitly comparing people who are already of similar intelligence. Most people don't even "approach problems", ever, in their lives.

Re: Both geniuses and madmen pay attention to what others ignore

#47

Post by vkreso »

pryelluw wrote: post #40
sverige wrote: post #20

Every 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 s…

I used to feel the same way. What changed? My brother died. Dropped dead. I realized that life is not only short but fragile. I started to work on improving my life one step at a time. Wanting things to happen overnight but knowing that takes time. Sometimes losing faith but never losing focus on the end goal. I want to to not waste my life. Forget being smart or doing something big. I don't want to regret wasting it…

Thank you for this, it resonated quite well in me.

Re: Both geniuses and madmen pay attention to what others ignore

#49

Post by noir_lord »

sverige wrote: post #20

Every 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 s…

When my GF tells me I'm really clever I just say "not really, I have a good memory and read a lot."

I'm not proud of my intelligence, why would I be? (much of it) is determined by genetics and the environment you grew up in and I had little control over either of those.

I also point out she is the one who speaks 3 languages fluently, has a degree in finance and qualified as a shipbroker, I just explain things really slowly and simply to a very fast idiot for a living.

Re: Both geniuses and madmen pay attention to what others ignore

#50

Post by throwaway90840 »

CuriouslyC wrote: post #23
jacquesm wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

I didn't say most progress, I said breakthroughs. Let's look back at some of the biggest breakthroughs in history. Newton was by all accounts a profoundly odd human being who was highly secretive and kept to himself. Faraday came from poverty and made his discoveries with no grounding in the math of the day. Einstein made his big breakthroughs as a patent clerk working on his own. Darwin was also an outsider who work…

I don't know if that is possible these days though. Ideas even from (relatively unknown) insiders are often termed "lacking in scope" and outright rejected. I can only think of one outsider having accomplished anything of value in math in the past 20 years (and even that guy wasn't really an outsider).

Academia has turned into a social game that is painful, and where the rewards are terrible (unless you're in CS I suppose). I think post-WW II has solidified the cult-like feeling of place, and also the increased the number of kooks. This contrasts starkly with the PR that is put out: hermits seeking truth.

It's generally hard to put this point across, since most people don't see the ground details, and the whistle-blower costs are rather high. I've previously found posts by Mark Tarver (creator of Shen) on c.l.l and on his blog to be informative, though.

Life, I fear, is no different than lord of the flies, except that the characters are rather a bit more polite.

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