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Comment by rutierut | Hacker News Reader

So if I'm getting this right, and I might not, the author:

- Is a genius. Outside the bounds of usual intelligence and thus unrecognizable for average people.

- He however is not able to use his genius to create value in any way. He specifically mentions failing to teach others to do so but this is because they are unable to comprehend his genius.

- Finally he his also not able to signal his genius (in any of his numerous publications) in such a way that someone who does have the tools/skills(money/better communication) to exploit this enormous unused potential is willing to do so.

If it's a duck but:

- nobody thinks it looks like a duck,

- it doesn't quack and

- it isn't able to produce any offspring that

   - can quack or

   - look like a duck

Is it really a duck?

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He is a literal legend in the field of gamedev.

1. He made some commercial and critical successes. 2. His writings are studied in game design academia. 3. His reason to pursue what he is pursue, is a good one, he gave some awesome speech on GDC about it when he was about to quit the normal industry and attempt this, long story short, he is upset with the AAA-style games and wanted the game industry embrace the fact they can make interactive art, and should take more risks. 4. He created GDC in first place!

By the way, his goal is not completely nuts, "AI Dungeon" for example is close to what he wanted, he has a text to explain why he doesn't consider it a fully valid attempt though: the fact it is entirely AI generated using deep learning, what he wants is to create a tool that the end result is like AI Dungeon (For players) but that is actually some kind of authoring tool, where game designers can actually be creative and create something fun.

I personally think his goal is a cool one but I have no idea how to make it possible without heavy-handed AI in the middle.

You are not getting it right: he specifically excludes himself from the category of genius. What he bemoans is the languishing of his ideas and posits that, despite the several interests in them and efforts to fulfill said interests, the timing may be wrong for them to be taken up.

You're right that he does seem to indicate he does exclude himself, but I feel like he puts more effort into that article to include himself with the comparisons made.

But maybe that's not the issue as much as:

I think the larger issue is that he really doesn't make the case (and maybe that's not the point) that these ideas are in fact as great as he makes them out to be. He mentions then and then goes on to mention some basic math, about the matrix... that's not convincing and raises all sorts of questions in my mind.

> timing may be wrong for them to be taken up.

Thus underpinning his actual conceit of genius.

At the top of the linked article is a link to a previous blog entry entitled "A Genius????" that lists a bunch of "smart" things he's done that presumably qualify him for being a genius but that he cringes at calling himself that.

http://www.erasmatazz.com/personal/self/a-genius.html

Overall the comments here and several of his blog posts make me think of this: https://sive.rs/multiply

> To me, ideas are worth nothing unless executed. They are just a multiplier. Execution is worth millions.

I also can think of times where "my" ideas were realized in the real world - but in no way can be credited to me, because other people also had those ideas, and someone implemented them. Was I a genius because I had these ideas, or did I just have some similar experiences and knowledge to others that had those ideas that (all but) inevitably will generate such an idea over a given timeline?

To really see how he views himself in comparison to others...

> I don't want my success or failure to be determined by the idiots who populate this planet.

I think really there's a fear here to put his ideas "out there" to go through the gauntlet of other smart people. If they never become popular, you can keep telling yourself how significant they are and it will not be disproved. But if you work to get your idea out there, and it still fails, maybe the idea had less value or significance than you assigned it. (Or you can still blame the "idiots on this planet.")

> He however is not able to use his genius to create value in any way.

Well, he did create (at least) two video games that were well received -- in fact, I remember that "Balance of Power" got amazing reviews when it came out.

So not entirely barren in production.

I'm guessing that he's unhappy that people, when taught his ideas, don't follow them closely enough?

Yes "to create value in any way" is wrong, I should have written something more nuanced.

I think you are right on this mainly being about his super valuable teachings not being utilized and this specific post not being about the author thinking he's a genius although he does think so[0].

[0] http://www.erasmatazz.com/personal/self/a-genius.html

Took a peek at the game[0].

From the initial game setup (options) screen:

> People who play this game without reading the manual are wasting their time.

Cannot judge by this emulator but I agree... started playing and had no clue how to "do" things. But then I read on Wikipedia[1]...

> It was praised for its inventive non-action gameplay that was nevertheless exciting and distinct. It has been named by Computer Gaming World as one of the most innovative computer games of all time.

Apparently at some point events will start to take place, and then you'll get a chance to choose how you react.

[0] https://classicreload.com/balance-of-power.html

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balance_of_Power_(video_game)

Oh man, just reading (http://www.erasmatazz.com/library/course-description-2018/ob...) for the first time. This person is definitely a genius. We have that word for people like this.

I don’t really understand how this is genius? Basic philosophy 101 and systems thinking concepts.

Goes after one of the (potential the) most common patterns in nature and offers a new take.

“A change of perspective is worth 80 IQ points”

I will say Object Oriented Programming has probably also had a giant impact on how we model game systems. Is functional programming on the Process end of the scale?

I like that mapping

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