Claude Shannon: How a Genius Thinks, Works, and Lives

Re:Claude Shannon: How a Genius Thinks, Works, and Lives by stephengillie on Friday July 21, 2017 @02:24PM (#14822716)

To be blunt, most "genius worship" is just another way for someone to feel like they're better than you. Genius lay in the eye of the beholder - one person's unsung genius toiling in obscurity is another person's fool following their folly.

Geniuses may have additional creative, productive, or other cognitive capacities, but they are still humans. Indeed, having greater capacity means geniuses can waste far more time than an average person can access.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Claude Shannon: How a Genius Thinks, Works, and Lives by lwerdna on Friday July 21, 2017 @04:39PM (#14823615)

I like your comment about the eye of beholder. It captures the obstacle I find when trying to form a complete argument why, say, studying chess is a pursuit inferior to studying information theory.

Adjusting it closer to your comment, can we say that a chess genius is better than an information theory genius? Counter arguments would question the way I'm using "better".

[ Parent | on HN ]