As it has been throughout history? What is your point besides stating obvious, self-evident truths that have existed throughout history? History has always been written about the rich and powerful and privileged. You sound a little defensive, perhaps because you were not born into such privilege. But tell me, what have YOU done with your life that is so worth of note in history books? Because so far you are just a complaining pissant.

What's your point? That everyone who is born into a position of privilege should be shit on, no matter their contribution to society?

the point is that genius doesn’t come out of a vacuum, people tend to act like he was a miracle… he was highly intelligent AND highly privileged… he was who he was because of both

I don't see how I'm being derogatory. It's a simple matter of fact that Neumann, being human and not some sort of Ubermensch, greatly benefitted from the best possible environment and education which unarguably contributed to his genius.

You're just stating obvious truths. The context makes it clear that you're attempting to diminish his accomplishments because he was born into privilege. I think they're still impressive, no matter his background. Not every discussion of a historical person needs to turn into a battle for equity.

How many more Von Neumanns would we have if more people had a similar environment?

Beyond that, yes he was incredibly accomplished, very prolific, and supremely intelligent, but it is important to remember that he was still human and not some kind of transcendant being outside of earthly considerations.

I don't see anyone in this comment thread implying that he's inhuman or a supreme being. It seems like you may be projecting the insecurities of your own background into the discussion. I'm occasionally envious of people with great achievements who had a "privileged" background, but it's certainly not the first thing I point out when their names are brought up.

I didn't point it out as the first thing when his name was brought up. But apparently being Von Neumann is sufficient for your upbringing not to matter, hence why I replied.

There are no shortages of people in these threads who genuinely believe that Neumann was supremely intelligent, beyond the conception of regular people. I'm sure you'll find them. It's not even unique to Neumann.

What about his upbringing gave him the ability to recall pages from books he’d read decades later?

Nothing. They put effort into his education because of his brilliancy, and your standard Jewish-American household could do the same thing.

They gave him multiple private teachers by the age of 6 - at that time people would normally not even be thought arithmetic.

People can recall pages from books if they put the effort, and regular people routinely do - an average person can memorize thousands of pages. Again it's that he could do it faster that's exceptional.

> Neumann was supremely intelligent, beyond the conception of regular people

And they would be right. This sort of genius is not only nurture and hard work, but nature as well. Like no matter what I do in my life, I will never even approach that level.

Of course he is still human, and someone will born (rarely though) that will achieve similar feats, but let’s be honest and just say that what he did is well beyond the reach of the average people.

You may not, but hundreds if not thousands of people were able to push his work farther than he could. It's not beyond the ability of a regular person with enough work to understand what he understood. Really the biggest difference is speed.

Understanding something is not the same as being able to recreate it from scratch.

I can follow a math example’s solution, but that doesn’t necessarily mean I could solve it alone.