I tended to sit around feeling stupid, making feeble attempts to be productive. He, on the other hand, knew how to ask the right questions of the right people and get the information he needed to proceed. He was just as clueless as me on the project, but the difference was he knew how to quickly and easily move from being clueless to being knowledgable.
The difference is in how they ask for help. Folks that are usually thought of as stupid either get flustered and say "I can't do this", or they don't ask for help at all and hope nobody will notice. While the ones we think of as "truly smart" have confidence that they'll get it eventually, they're just missing some crucial piece of information.
I suspect this holds true of original research as well, but this is usually done in private, and so nobody sees the smart people struggle.
If it is insight though, for even those armed with all the crucial facts, they may still be unable to make certain connections and mental leaps. I guess this is the kind of struggle I'm talking about. Given the same data, two researchers can come up with interpretations of different strength and quality. Across all the brilliant people I have met before, whenever this happens I can only ask "how the hell?" And they would say something like, "oh, it's just this and that."
"It is different with the magicians. Even after we understand what they have done it is completely dark." -- Kac on Feynman.
Is there a similarity? I have to wonder what caused Rock to struggle...
I can only ask "how the hell?" And they would say something like, "oh, it's just this and that."
Yes. When I was getting a math degree, people who were really good in one area, like analysis, often struggled in another area, like abstract algebra.
Likewise, when I lived in Boston I worked with PhDs in microbiology and biochemistry who had a hard time with computer programming.
My math professors told me that math majors tend to fall in love with the second upper-division math course that they take, because in the first one, you're still struggling with the details of moving from mostly computational to proof-based problems. Usually this first course is either real analysis or abstract algebra, and since all analysis and algebra classes tend to build on the fundamentals of these courses, this may show up in the subsequent classes that you take within these fields.
The math tidbit is interesting though. What other examples have you seen of good mathematicians being lopsidedly talented in one area? What kinds of areas were these? I can somehow see real analysis involving a different ability than that of discrete math.
Everyone struggles. The difference with the smart people is how they respond to those struggles.
That's about the silliest thing I've read.
Re Parent: yep, could well be a form of confirmation bias. "That guy is struggling, must not be smart. I wonder why all the smart people never struggle?"
To struggle is human. Smart people sometimes try to hide their stuggles. But the truly smart people recognize that struggling is human, and accept it. So you should see them struggle. If you haven't seen them struggle, you aren't looking. Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, these guys have all had very public failures. They admit it, learn from it, move on, and are stronger for it.