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I don't think there would be too much disagreement if I said von neuman was one of the smartest 10 guys to live in the last century. But he seemed to relate to

I don't think there would be too much disagreement if I said von neuman was one of the smartest 10 guys to live in the last century. But he seemed to relate to people just fine.

phaus 8y ago
>I don't think there would be too much disagreement if I said von neuman was one of the smartest 10 guys to live in the last century. Obviously there won't be much disagreement on a platform dominated by computer scientists. If you went to forums for other fields they would also pick their favorites and see no reason to disagree that they are not only the best and brightest in the field, but also the best and brightest in general. And to be clear I'm not saying he isn't. I don't really know.
- pedrosorio 8y ago
  von Neumann was a lot more than a computer scientist though...
- extragood 8y ago
  He's huge in computer science, legendary in mathematics, and contributed significantly to nuclear physics. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_von_Neumann https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_von_Neumann He should make top 10 for anyone in math or science at least.
ABCLAW 8y ago
I don't think we're at the point of having a strict definition of 'smart' let alone a system for ranking by it.
- extragood 8y ago
  If multiple Nobel Laureates say things like "I have sometimes wondered whether a brain like von Neumann's does not indicate a species superior to that of man" that's a pretty good indicator that the man was beyond brilliant and I think it's fair to say that they have the better authority than any of us here to make that classification. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_von_Neumann#Cognitive_abilities https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_von_Neumann#Cognitive_abi...
  - JamesBarney 8y ago
    Or George Pólya's quote "Johnny was the only student I was ever afraid of. If in the course of a lecture I stated an unsolved problem, the chances were he'd come to me at the end of the lecture with the complete solution scribbled on a slip of paper."
extragood 8y ago
> Teller also said "von Neumann would carry on a conversation with my 3-year-old son, and the two of them would talk as equals, and I sometimes wondered if he used the same principle when he talked to the rest of us." [1] Teller is best known as "the father of the hydrogen bomb". [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_von_Neumann#Cognitive_abilities https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_von_Neumann#Cognitive_abi...

I don't think there would be too much disagreement if I said von neuman was one of the smartest 10 guys to live in the last century. But he seemed to relate to people just fine.

phaus 8y ago

>I don't think there would be too much disagreement if I said von neuman was one of the smartest 10 guys to live in the last century. Obviously there won't be much disagreement on a platform dominated by computer scientists. If you went to forums for other fields they would also pick their favorites and see no reason to disagree that they are not only the best and brightest in the field, but also the best and brightest in general. And to be clear I'm not saying he isn't. I don't really know.

pedrosorio 8y ago
von Neumann was a lot more than a computer scientist though...
extragood 8y ago
He's huge in computer science, legendary in mathematics, and contributed significantly to nuclear physics. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_von_Neumann https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_von_Neumann He should make top 10 for anyone in math or science at least.

ABCLAW 8y ago

I don't think we're at the point of having a strict definition of 'smart' let alone a system for ranking by it.

extragood 8y ago
If multiple Nobel Laureates say things like "I have sometimes wondered whether a brain like von Neumann's does not indicate a species superior to that of man" that's a pretty good indicator that the man was beyond brilliant and I think it's fair to say that they have the better authority than any of us here to make that classification. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_von_Neumann#Cognitive_abilities https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_von_Neumann#Cognitive_abi...
- JamesBarney 8y ago
  Or George Pólya's quote "Johnny was the only student I was ever afraid of. If in the course of a lecture I stated an unsolved problem, the chances were he'd come to me at the end of the lecture with the complete solution scribbled on a slip of paper."

extragood 8y ago

> Teller also said "von Neumann would carry on a conversation with my 3-year-old son, and the two of them would talk as equals, and I sometimes wondered if he used the same principle when he talked to the rest of us." [1] Teller is best known as "the father of the hydrogen bomb". [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_von_Neumann#Cognitive_abilities https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_von_Neumann#Cognitive_abi...