Absolutely. For a quick model of why you get multiplicative results:
Intelligence—raw intellectual horsepower—might be considered a force-multiplier, whereby you produce more intellectual work per hour spent working.
Motivation (combined with say, health) determines how much time you spend working. We could quantify it as hours per week.
Taste determines the quality of the project you choose to work on. We might quantify it as “the expected value, per unit of intellectual work, of the project”.
Then you literally multiply those three quantities together and it’s the expected value per week of your intellectual work. My mentor says that these are the three most important traits that determine the best scientists.
Absolutely. For a quick model of why you get multiplicative results:
Intelligence—raw intellectual horsepower—might be considered a force-multiplier, whereby you produce more intellectual work per hour spent working.
Motivation (combined with say, health) determines how much time you spend working. We could quantify it as hours per week.
Taste determines the quality of the project you choose to work on. We might quantify it as “the expected value, per unit of intellectual work, of the project”.
Then you literally multiply those three quantities together and it’s the expected value per week of your intellectual work. My mentor says that these are the three most important traits that determine the best scientists.
That makes sense! Maybe you feel like writing a post on the topic? Potentially including a numerical or analytical model.