If Einstein had chosen the wrong angle of attack on his problem—if he hadn’t chosen a sufficiently important problem to work on—if he hadn’t persisted for years—if he’d taken any number of wrong turns—or if someone else had solved the problem first—then dear Albert would have ended up as just another Jewish genius.
But if Einstein was the reason why none of those things happened, then maybe he wasn’t just another Jewish genius, eh? Maybe he was smart enough to choose the right methods, to select the important problems, to see the value in persisting, to avoid or recover from all the wrong turns, and to be the first.
My own ruminations on genius have led me to suppose that one mistake which people of the very highest intelligence may make, is to underestimate their own exceptionality; for example, to adopt theories of human potential which are excessively optimistic regarding the capabilities of other people. But that is largely just my own experience speaking. It similarly seems very possible that the lessons you are trying to impart here are simply things you wish you hadn’t had to figure out for yourself, but are not especially helpful or relevant for anyone else. In fact, I am reminded of one of my own pessimistic meta-principles regarding people of very high ability, which is that their situation will be so individual that no-one will be able to help them or understand them. It’s not literally true, but it does point the way to the further conclusion that they will have to solve their own problems.
If anyone wants to see thoughts about genius they haven’t seen before, they should first of all study the works and career of Celia Green. And then, as a side dish, they might like to read the chapter “Odysseus of Ithaca, by Kuno Mlatje”, in Stanislaw Lem’s A Perfect Vacuum.
My own ruminations on genius have led me to suppose that one mistake which people of the very highest intelligence may make, is to underestimate their own exceptionality; for example, to adopt theories of human potential which are excessively optimistic regarding the capabilities of other people.
I believe this isn’t just a mistake made by people of the very highest intelligence.
Instead, people are very apt to generalize from themselves, and if they see someone failing at something which comes easily to them, they’re very apt to think that the other person is faking or not trying hard enough.
If Einstein had chosen the wrong angle of attack on his problem—if he hadn’t chosen a sufficiently important problem to work on—if he hadn’t persisted for years—if he’d taken any number of wrong turns—or if someone else had solved the problem first—then dear Albert would have ended up as just another Jewish genius.
But if Einstein was the reason why none of those things happened, then maybe he wasn’t just another Jewish genius, eh? Maybe he was smart enough to choose the right methods, to select the important problems, to see the value in persisting, to avoid or recover from all the wrong turns, and to be the first.
My own ruminations on genius have led me to suppose that one mistake which people of the very highest intelligence may make, is to underestimate their own exceptionality; for example, to adopt theories of human potential which are excessively optimistic regarding the capabilities of other people. But that is largely just my own experience speaking. It similarly seems very possible that the lessons you are trying to impart here are simply things you wish you hadn’t had to figure out for yourself, but are not especially helpful or relevant for anyone else. In fact, I am reminded of one of my own pessimistic meta-principles regarding people of very high ability, which is that their situation will be so individual that no-one will be able to help them or understand them. It’s not literally true, but it does point the way to the further conclusion that they will have to solve their own problems.
If anyone wants to see thoughts about genius they haven’t seen before, they should first of all study the works and career of Celia Green. And then, as a side dish, they might like to read the chapter “Odysseus of Ithaca, by Kuno Mlatje”, in Stanislaw Lem’s A Perfect Vacuum.
I believe this isn’t just a mistake made by people of the very highest intelligence.
Instead, people are very apt to generalize from themselves, and if they see someone failing at something which comes easily to them, they’re very apt to think that the other person is faking or not trying hard enough.