3 ms·

I feel like "genius" is almost always an ex post facto label that's doled out to make us feel better about our own lack of ambition. That person did something r

I feel like "genius" is almost always an ex post facto label that's doled out to make us feel better about our own lack of ambition. That person did something really wild and interesting? Clearly they're a genius, so why even bother striving for anything quite so good? Same with the recent Steve Jobs threads. Or any thread featuring prominent programmers or founders. I think immediately reaching for the "genius defense" (whether deserved or not) does far more harm than good.

newnewpdro 8y ago
You're right. Exceptional labels are often used to abdicate responsibility of the mediocre for their own mediocrity. It's easier to label someone as special than it is to admit you didn't put in the time they did, or that your fear of failure prevents you from trying. This particular Woz story doesn't scream of "genius" to me. It screams of curiosity and confidence, a fearlessness, of a young and foolhardy geek swimming in opportunity and it enabled him to discover some interesting, innovative things. The part where his (probably senior) hardware dept. colleague trolled him into completely ripping apart his work and redoing it all for cosmetic reasons with a single sentence saying "Steve, you mean you’re going to go with less than perfect?" had me laughing heartily, and caused me to reflect on the times similar things had been done to me early in my career.