I’d actually be a bit surprised if this were true. My guess is that intelligent madmen are more interesting, so we just pay more attention to them. Now I’m tempted to go looking for statistics.
Not doubting the correlation between madness and mathematics, though.
To expand, it may be that intelligent madmen are the ones who accomplish enough to get famous. Well, also artistic madmen—and we also have a cultural expectation that artists are crazy!
I’d definitely be interested in more information here.
Googling schizophrenia+creativity leads me to suspect that it’s more than a cultural expectation. Though I should disclaim the likely bias induced by my personal experience with several creative schizophrenics.
Well, given that schizophrenics suffer from hallucinations and delusions, they’re probably going to appear compulsively creative simply as a consequence of sharing their reality with other people. That doesn’t necessarily mean that their creative works are going to be any good. Witness the website of my schizophrenic former lab partner.
It’s also something like people with recessive genes for mental illness get some of the benefits (increased creativity) without the debilitation. I have a family history of mental illness but am not mental ill, and I definitely recognize benefits from whatever it is about me that isn’t neurotypical.
I’d actually be a bit surprised if this were true. My guess is that intelligent madmen are more interesting, so we just pay more attention to them. Now I’m tempted to go looking for statistics.
Not doubting the correlation between madness and mathematics, though.
To expand, it may be that intelligent madmen are the ones who accomplish enough to get famous. Well, also artistic madmen—and we also have a cultural expectation that artists are crazy!
I’d definitely be interested in more information here.
Googling schizophrenia+creativity leads me to suspect that it’s more than a cultural expectation. Though I should disclaim the likely bias induced by my personal experience with several creative schizophrenics.
Well, given that schizophrenics suffer from hallucinations and delusions, they’re probably going to appear compulsively creative simply as a consequence of sharing their reality with other people. That doesn’t necessarily mean that their creative works are going to be any good. Witness the website of my schizophrenic former lab partner.
It’s also something like people with recessive genes for mental illness get some of the benefits (increased creativity) without the debilitation. I have a family history of mental illness but am not mental ill, and I definitely recognize benefits from whatever it is about me that isn’t neurotypical.
Same here.
This connection is one I find much more compelling.