posted
The nature of genius is looking through something, instead of at, where you see all elements working together, and understanding each element, without trying to notice. Where you don't just see a car, you see an engine, tires, radio, trasmission, radiator, axels. You notice aerodynamics, design, color, size.
A chess genius doesn't just see pieces, and understand how to move, or where to move next. A chess genius will see 5 moves ahead, will see his opponent's thoughts, will have four different strategies running of how he'll beat him.
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posted
The nature of genius is being better than others, seeing things differntly, getting things quicker, and making better insights. Or maybe nothing like that. Genius is not a quantity, but, much like pornography, "I'll recognize it when I see it."
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I think this is half of it. The other half is success. Genius is looking at the world differently in a way that makes you more successful at whatever you are trying to do.
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posted
edit: correct to read: Edison said it was 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.
Edison often bunked in his workshop.
Examples of hard work and much time thinking abound in the discussions of what makes a genius.
I suspect that the reason for this is that the prepared mind is the fertile soil for ideas and you don't get there by flashes of insight alone. At least that's a rarity.
Seeing things from a different angle is also a good thing to consider. Many breakthroughs come synergistically from the insights of educated people from a slightly different field. Also, learning to look at failure as an opportunity is important. It's the old penicillin being discovered because someone experiment was ruined by a moldy sandwich.
Finally, I suspect that the root of all genius is curiosity. Insatiable curiosity.
There are lots of incredibly brilliant people who never do anything that would qualify them as "genius-level" folks. Deep thoughts are often window-dressing. People can learn to emit noises that sound smart. We see it here on Hatrack, even.
I think there simply MUST be an aspect of genius that is productive -- something that gives results that are meaningful. Otherwise it's just noise and objectively impossible to distinguish from bad country music or the whirring of a blender making frozen alcoholic beverages.
quote:Originally posted by Bob_Scopatz: Einstein said it was 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.
Edison often bunked in his workshop.
Actually, the quote also belongs to Edison ;-)
As for my views on genius, I think it's two fold.
First, one must have the ability to think outside of the box. You don't get huge breakthroughs doing the same thing everyone before you has done (as a general rule, there are definitely exceptions).
Second, one must have the courage to think outside the box. In any research field, it's hard to go against the current trends or the widely held beliefs.
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posted
You have to use the right side of your brain. You have to be able to recognize a problem and know how to fix it.
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We would do well to dispel the image of genius a lot of us have today, which is 99% effortless supernatural inspiration and 1% perspiration.
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posted
I've recently been inhabiting the mind of Ayn Rand.
quote:A rational process is a moral process. You may make an error at any step of it, with nothing to protect you but your own severity, or you may try to cheat, to fake the evidence and evade the effort of the quest - but if devotion to the truth is the hallmark of morality, then there is no greater, nobler, more heroic form of devotion than the act of a man who assumes the responsibility of thinking.
posted
Bob- From OSC's Groupthink and the Intellectual Elite:
quote:"If you're really smart -- a genuine intellectual -- then you will be able to communicate effectively, especially with people who disagree with you."
I know there are differences between geniuses and intellectuals, but maybe this is what you were looking for when you said
quote:there simply MUST be an aspect of genius that is productive.
What good is genius if you cannot communicate it?
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posted
Oh... I once read an article about it, written by a neurologist. He claimed that a genius is in fact a person with one overdeveloped brain hemisphere. And the cause for this could for example have been a lack of oxygen during birth.
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posted
I'm not sure that communication is as important as practical application. And while I admit there are probably people out there who are "evil geniuses" the true gauge of genius, to me, is the positive impact on ones fellow human beings.
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quote:Originally posted by Paul Goldner: "What good is genius if you cannot communicate it?"
Often, quite a bit of good. Other people just end up translating for you.
Don't you need to communicate something for it to be translated, even if it's through painting or architecture?
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quote:Originally posted by Paul Goldner: "What good is genius if you cannot communicate it?"
Often, quite a bit of good. Other people just end up translating for you.
Don't you need to communicate something for it to be translated, even if it's through painting or architecture?
You don't need to communicate it in the popular language though, as long as you have someone around who can kinda get what you're saying and tell others. I mean, look at engineers.
quote:Originally posted by Paul Goldner: "What good is genius if you cannot communicate it?"
Often, quite a bit of good. Other people just end up translating for you.
Don't you need to communicate something for it to be translated, even if it's through painting or architecture?
I think the point is that a person can be an ineffective communicator and still be a genuine genius or intellectual. This is, for all intents, true. For anyone short of a true polymath, the marketability of one's genius can easily be irrelevant to the substance of the genius.
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posted
What would you then call someone who was a genius at translation?
Why, Supra-Genius of course.
And we'd call him "Wile E. Coyote, Super Genius!"
Actually I would like to rephrase my description.
Genius = Talent * Passion.
Passion will force the perspiration, dedication, even a bit of the communications. It will drive you to build the skills you need.
A person with talent but no passion for the subject will always be second rate. I believe that Rumsfeld has a passion for winning the War in Iraq, but I do question his talent.
A person with passion but no talent is a hack. Ed Wood was a man with a passion for movie making, but not much of a talent.
But a person who has both, is unbeatable. Edison, Einstein, Piccasso, Ford, in any field, in any era, the same truth holds. Those whom we call genius had both the talent and the passion, not to succeed, but for their thing (art, science, music, basebal, basketball, love making, quilt making, what-ever).
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posted
I should think the inspiration is what makes you a genius, and the dedication or passion (same thing to me) is what makes others aware of that genius. But then again a lack of passion for your talents at worst kills them, at best, stunts their growth.
Mozart playing the clavichord at 5 years old and writing music that was difficult was genius.
His entire life he threw himself into writing music, and we so he remained a genius.
Had he lived any longer then he did, I am convinced he would have spent that time writing music. Perhaps the depths of his genius would eventually have been plumbed, but I suppose we will never know, he worked himself to death.
I love Thomas Edison, but the way he treated Tesla still leaves me with a sour taste in my mouth.
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