How to Get to Genius | Hacker News Reader

How to Get to Genius

jamesthornton.com

86 pointsespeed18 comments

This is a great read, not your typical HN amateur blogger overblown post. Understanding intelligence to be the recognition of patterns illuminates why and how things like perspective, experience, solitude, and creativity all play into "genius."

Also a great quote which I had not seen from Galileo: "All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them." This notion is something I struggle with when revealing insights to others, because people are so often willing to say "well duh, that just makes sense" without realizing that it's actually a novel insight to them.

You know when you're writing a proposal, an executive summary, or pitching something it's a good idea to lead with the problem first, or lead with a question that gets the person you're engaging to try and think of a "solution" for what you are about to present to them? (http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2006/04/the_art_of_the_.html)

Getting them to try and think about the problem ahead of time will help them realize that may not have a solution for what you are about to present so they are in better position to understand the significance of what you are about to say.

Good tip! The problem-solution framework is a classic obviously but I will give you all the credit because I wasn't really thinking about it in this context! Thanks.

The article is thought provoking. I'd say genius is a habit. The habit of thinking about things most people don't think about and thinking about them in ways most people won't think about them. But I believe anyone can acquire the habit with practice. The reason few people do, is that it is risky. Unless the individual is extremely socially adept, this habit is social liability. Why, by definition the habit makes you odd and most of us want to 'fit in.' So we tend to think about things the same way as our peers.

Great read and I think it's spot-on. It reminds me of this excellent essay by Charlie Munger (Buffett's partner in BRK), "The Art of Stockpicking": http://www.grahamanddoddsville.net/wordpress/Files/Gurus/Cha...

In there, he stresses the need for having multiple models in your head, or different mental frameworks that coalesce to form a unique perspective in your field.

"And the models have to come from multiple disciplines because all the wisdom of the world is not to be found in one little academic department. That's why poetry professors, by and large, are so unwise in a worldly sense. They don't have enough models in their heads. So you've got to have models across a fair array of disciplines. "

This is analogs to "Everything You Know About Fitness is a Lie" (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2287213)

"It can be hard to believe a true strength coach the first time he tells you that by pressing and dead-lifting on even days, squatting and doing chin-ups on odd days, avoiding all other exercises, and adding a little to the bar each time, you’ll be stronger than you’ve ever been in only a month’s time. Thanks to the fitness industry, we’re so conditioned to equate sophistication with complexity — and to think we’ve got to “work each body part” — that our gut just says, No way; that can’t work. But it works like magic, and the entire body hardens up in unison."

The common principle is that you grow in balance -- if one part is deficient, it can hinder the growth of the whole.

http://www.mensjournal.com/everything-you-know-about-fitness...

This is interesting. Key Robinson says that we are born with more creativity, but modern education systems are killing it:

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/ken_robinson_says_schools_...

I've got a theory about ideas/inspiration. Basically, if you ask a question that has no follow-up/dependent questions, then magically your brain will supply the answer (in a short time-frame). You just need to drill down to that terminal node. Most people stop further up the tree. In fact usually you're not trying to find answers, just to learn something that's already documented. Perhaps also you need the sister/cousin nodes to be in place/known, so that when the idea comes you get that final-piece-of-the-puzzle 'chink,' the Eureka feeling. Granted I've never worked on deep research problems but whenever I need a good new idea to proceed, it tends to come easily. Just by identifying where the missing link should be, you are gifted what it is.

Will you give us an example?

Until I think of one from my own life - those guys that were making the phone app for nearby people at tech events to view each others 'profiles' (with a view to striking up conversations with the right people), but had to figure out a way to get into these tech events/conferences and use the crowd to test their app. Their solution was a cracker (and eventually a spin-off business):

Once live, we got like 5 users, since no one really knew about it. To promote this product, we decided to target events, since we thought that events is where people would like to meet each other. We locked ourselves in a room and asked this question over and over: “What is something valuable we can provide to event organizers so that they can promote our product?”

Zac finally came up with an idea. He proposed that we could build a kiosk where attendees can type in their name, and a name badge would instantly print. (& while they're there, register for the phone app)

Change in perspective: check, fundamentally even

Insight from weak associations: check, from more sources than I can easily count

Tight mental framework: getting there as fast as I can

Hardware and software in the brain: check, dots have been connected

Thoughts are things: vision, check; reality, in progress

Path to genius: check for eureka moment from plug and play

Genius?: TBD

good luck, sir!

This article provides a very good insight into what makes someone a genius (and certainly it is not just the talent). I think perspective/vision is a key thing here, combined with passion and hard work.

Great read. Just a quick note though, you have not installed Disqus correctly. The same two comments are showing on all pages for me.

Thank you -- brand new site and first blog post -- still working some bugs out :)

Any reason why you don't use Wordpress?

I prefer Python over PHP, and I wanted to experiment with the Flask framework -- and Flask BTW has been really nice to work with.

very interesting article. It's good to look at the brain from a scientific, hardware/software perspective. I think it's also important for us to observe our thought process to improve, as some call become more aware.

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