Another method may be to list the top 10 achievements first and then check whether a specialist or a generalist. I imagine Prometheus was a generalist.
This is a good idea. But I think 10 is too few. It would be better to pick the top 100 or 200, and see how many people who contributed to multiple fields are on the list.
I’ve not created the list first, but have thought of which of those I listed above have done something that would belong on that list, so feel free to take possible confirmation bias into account on my part, but even after trying to account for that, I think many of the following accomplishments would be on the list:
Calculus: Leibniz, Newton
Physics: Newton [forgot about Newton originally, but he was a generalist]
Entscheidungsproblem, Turing machine: Turing
Too much important math to list: Gauss
Contributions to quantum mechanics, economics & game theory, computer science (we’re using a von Neumann-style computer), set theory, logic, and much else: von Neumann
It’s worth remembering that what we’re looking for is not just people who contributed to multiple fields but generalists/rationalists: people who took a “big picture” view. (I’m willing to set aside the matter of whether their specific achievements were related to their “big picture” view of things since it will probably just lead to argument without resolution.) Leibniz would definitely fall into that category, for example, but I’m not sure Newton would. He had interests outside of physics (religion/mysticism) but they weren’t really related to one another.
not just people who contributed to multiple fields but generalists/rationalists
what’s the difference between being a generalist and contributing to multiple fields?
I’m willing to set aside the matter of whether their specific achievements were related to their “big picture” view of things since it will probably just lead to argument without resolution.
No, no! This is the meat of the question. If it were the case that generalism correlated with but did not cause great insights (for example, in a world that forced all really clever people to study at least 3 subjects for their whole academic lives this would be the case), then my original argument would fail.
It should be noted that Turing and Shannon both studied with Norbert Wiener, and he might have come up with most of their interesting ideas (and possibly von Neumann’s as well). Also, Wiener founded the study of cybernetics, made notable contributions to gunnery, and made the first real contribution to the field of computer ethics.
ETA: not to discredit the work of Turing, Shannon, and von Neumann, but rather to note that Wiener is definitely someone who made major contributions and should be on the ‘generalists’ list.
Wiener is on the original list I gave a couple of posts up.
Do you have a reference for Turing studying with Wiener and Turing getting his ideas from him? I checked all pages in Hodges’s biography of Turing that mention Wiener, and none of them mention that he studied with Wiener.
Turing’s Entscheidungsproblem paper (which also introduced the Turing machine) was published in 1936. The only (in-person) connection between them I found (though I didn’t search other than checking the bio) is that Wiener spoke with Turing about cybernetics in 1947 while passing by on his way to Nancy.
Are there specific discoveries you believe are falsely attributed to Turing, von Neumann, or Shannon, and can you provide any evidence?
Another method may be to list the top 10 achievements first and then check whether a specialist or a generalist. I imagine Prometheus was a generalist.
This is a good idea. But I think 10 is too few. It would be better to pick the top 100 or 200, and see how many people who contributed to multiple fields are on the list.
I’ve not created the list first, but have thought of which of those I listed above have done something that would belong on that list, so feel free to take possible confirmation bias into account on my part, but even after trying to account for that, I think many of the following accomplishments would be on the list:
Calculus: Leibniz, Newton
Physics: Newton [forgot about Newton originally, but he was a generalist]
Entscheidungsproblem, Turing machine: Turing
Too much important math to list: Gauss
Contributions to quantum mechanics, economics & game theory, computer science (we’re using a von Neumann-style computer), set theory, logic, and much else: von Neumann
It’s worth remembering that what we’re looking for is not just people who contributed to multiple fields but generalists/rationalists: people who took a “big picture” view. (I’m willing to set aside the matter of whether their specific achievements were related to their “big picture” view of things since it will probably just lead to argument without resolution.) Leibniz would definitely fall into that category, for example, but I’m not sure Newton would. He had interests outside of physics (religion/mysticism) but they weren’t really related to one another.
what’s the difference between being a generalist and contributing to multiple fields?
No, no! This is the meat of the question. If it were the case that generalism correlated with but did not cause great insights (for example, in a world that forced all really clever people to study at least 3 subjects for their whole academic lives this would be the case), then my original argument would fail.
It should be noted that Turing and Shannon both studied with Norbert Wiener, and he might have come up with most of their interesting ideas (and possibly von Neumann’s as well). Also, Wiener founded the study of cybernetics, made notable contributions to gunnery, and made the first real contribution to the field of computer ethics.
ETA: not to discredit the work of Turing, Shannon, and von Neumann, but rather to note that Wiener is definitely someone who made major contributions and should be on the ‘generalists’ list.
Wiener is on the original list I gave a couple of posts up.
Do you have a reference for Turing studying with Wiener and Turing getting his ideas from him? I checked all pages in Hodges’s biography of Turing that mention Wiener, and none of them mention that he studied with Wiener.
Turing’s Entscheidungsproblem paper (which also introduced the Turing machine) was published in 1936. The only (in-person) connection between them I found (though I didn’t search other than checking the bio) is that Wiener spoke with Turing about cybernetics in 1947 while passing by on his way to Nancy.
Are there specific discoveries you believe are falsely attributed to Turing, von Neumann, or Shannon, and can you provide any evidence?