Hacker News Reader

Comment by michaelchisari | Hacker News Reader

The idea of genius and brilliance as something you earn, that is the combination of hard work, an open mind, the right mix of humility and hurbis, and the right circumstances, is a profound change in how we view our world.

I hope it's true, because we currently focus our resources and attention on those who are labelled "gifted" early on, instead of building on the idea of life as a constant process of re-imagination and education. If this is true, then there are geniuses the world over, and we just need to tap their potential.

"I am somehow less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein’s brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops." - Stephen Jay Gould

View on HN

HN's founder, pg, has done something to promote this idea.

http://www.paulgraham.com/hs.html

"I'm not saying there's no such thing as genius. But if you're trying to choose between two theories and one gives you an excuse for being lazy, the other one is probably right."

It is indeed a good idea for people who are trying to solve hard problems not to ask, "How good is my ability?" but rather to ask, "What use am I making of all my ability and all my other resources to solve this problem?"

Agree! Another example of this that my old music teacher used to give all the time was John Coltrane. Everybody agrees that he was a great player, but he wasn't a prodigy. He was notorious for practicing day and night to continue improving his craft.

Even Miles Davis thought he was a bit boring because all he (John) wanted to do was practice. :)

>"I am somehow less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein’s brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops."

not. There weren't people of equal talent in cotton fields and sweatshops. It is possibly that there were people who at the age of 2 had the brain with the same potential as Einstein's brain at the age of 2 (though not likely as Einstein's brain seems to have unique basic biological parameters like smaller size of neurons and greater ratio off energy generating cells to neurons). Brain development is reflected in its biological structure. The brain of a 30-40 years old is the _biological_ result of the 30-40 years of development of that organ. Different experiences, like intensive studies and intensive manual labor create different brains - different sets of neurons wired differently. Silicon waffers look the same before being lithographed and frequently look the same after, yet they may be lithographed with completely different CPU/chips/etc...

Yes, I think that is a profoundly powerful belief.

At the same time, my impression is that things have actually gone in the other direction in the last twenty years - the popular press credits genes for a laughable variety of behaviors specific to civilized humans.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com