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Comment by millstone | Hacker News Reader

Susan Fowler is legit terrifyingly brilliant. In only a year and a half she went from pre-algebra to grad QM while being a writer at NYT. Some people are just set to a higher gear.

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> In only a year and a half she went from pre-algebra to grad QM while being a writer at NYT

I found this hard to believe, so I looked it up. It appears she _did_ go from pre-algebra to grad quantum within a short time [1], but that was many years before she joined NYTimes in 2018.

[1] https://www.susanjfowler.com/blog/2016/8/26/from-the-fledgli...

I still find it implausible. Would a university realistically allow someone who didn't know anything beyond 6th-grade math (in her own words) to sign up for such an accelerated syllabus that she went from doing introductory physics to quantum field theory in 6 months (also according to her own account)?

"In only a year and a half" --> How do we know she is not exaggerating? People have strong incentives to lie about their own accomplishments.

u can learn it in 2 months https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGD6KQ6bRS8

To put this into context: The video is from the same guy who plagiarized a paper and replaced "quantum gates" with "quantum doors" and "complex Hilbert space" with "complicated Hilbert space".

https://regmedia.co.uk/2019/10/14/siraj_raval_paper.pdf

It's a distraction; care about your own learning at whatever pace.

“Now, she tells her full story for the first time: a story of extraordinary determination and resilience that reveals what it takes—and what it means—to be a whistleblower. Long before she arrived at Uber, Fowler's life had been defined by her refusal to accept her circumstances. She propelled herself from an impoverished childhood with little formal education to the Ivy League, and then to a coveted position at one of the most valuable companies in the history of Silicon Valley. Each time she was mistreated, she fought back or found a way to reinvent herself; all she wanted was the opportunity to define her own dreams and work to achieve them. But when she discovered Uber's pervasive culture of sexism, racism, harassment, and abuse, and that the company would do nothing about it, she knew she had to speak out--no matter what it cost her.”

— blurb for her book “Whistleblower”

I have no doubt she is smart and resilient. But there is a huge gap between "smart" and "one-in-a-million genius".

You quoted a marketing blurb. Of course it is supposed to sell the author.

It is conceivable her IQ is in the order of 1 in 100 million rarity in which it is possible to perform such feats of learning. Read the bios of some of the Nobel laureates in physics or those who revolutionized the field,and a similar pattern emerges of being able to learn things very quickly.

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