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It's funny a deleted comment asked if geniuses ever achieve anything. My cousin is supposedly a genius (siblings all have doctorates) yet works in a laundromat.

It's funny a deleted comment asked if geniuses ever achieve anything. My cousin is supposedly a genius (siblings all have doctorates) yet works in a laundromat. I saw an article where one genius kid years ago was asked what he wanted to be when he grew up, he said a gameshow host.

delecti 7y ago
I wonder if it's like the gene for sickle cell. Two copies of it are bad (sickle cell anemia), but one copy of the gene can protect against malaria. A bit of genius can be incredibly helpful, but too much can make it difficult to relate to other people.
adnzzzzZ 7y ago
There are two traits that most predict performance in life: IQ and conscientiousness. "Genius", as most people refer to the word, essentially means high IQ. But IQ has no correlation whatsoever to conscientiousness, so you can be someone with extremely high IQ but extremely low conscientiousness. If you have low conscientiousness you're going to be someone who isn't particularly disciplined, hard-working, organized, reliable, etc. So you can get these situations where there are geniuses who achieve nothing because they lack conscientiousness. Most people who end up achieving a lot tend to be high in both traits. And of course, conscientiousness isn't fixed. You can improve it through various means. Although if you're extremely low in it in my view you're likely not going to be able to improve such that you can become the most conscientious person out of 100, for instance.
- crooked-v 7y ago
  It's worth noting that IQ also isn't fixed, as it can be noticeably affected by wealth, nutrition, family stability, etc, over time.
that_jojo 7y ago
People rarely consider the fact that just because someone is born to be a genius doesn't mean that they'll want to grow up to be an academic. I was born reasonably smart-ish. Did okay in school, have a good job writing code because I have an aptitude for it. But if I had a big dream, it would be in entertainment.
ping_pong 7y ago
Educating a high-IQ child, especially a "profoundly gifted" child (above 145 IQ) is particularly challenging. They get by with their raw intellect for most of school, and everyone compliments them on how smart they are. But they never learn skills like how to study, how to learn, how to persevere etc. So once they hit their plateau, which everyone does, they don't know how to get past it and then they give up. A kindergartener that can read like a grade 8 will work off her raw intellect until she gets to grade 8, but then once her abilities max out, she won't have learned how to get past that, and that's where she flames out. It happens all the time, even to friends of mine in high school. One of my gifted friends did well in high school but unfortunately flamed out in spectacular fashion in freshman year and I haven't heard from her in 30 years, even though we were extremely close and I reached out to her several times over the years.
- dhimes 7y ago
  Interestingly, this is one of the inspirations for Study Swami. I saw a lot of this- and even with less gifted students but who still didn't know how to live up to their "potential."
- etagobla 7y ago
  I'm growing increasingly pessimistic about posts like this which claim to have a nuanced understanding of [child development] but actually rely more on personal feelings, anecdotes, and pseudoscience. A smart girl who grows up in a school where everyone's getting pregnant at 14 might end up pregnant at 14. A smart kid who grows up in Flint might have to deal with the same lead poisoning as everyone else, with potentially varying symptoms. A smart kid whose parents are depressed in its adolescence might be depressed. There are many potential causes of burnout and it's extremely unhelpful to assume that we know what's happening to these kids based on "I know a guy who knows a guy". What you're essentially doing is framing a kid's failures as a moral issue of perseverance and study skills when it might be, but it also might not be. Imagine being naturally competent but having a mental illness that invites the public to inject their own personal biases.
  - ping_pong 7y ago
legohead 7y ago
My brother is a genius and also a violin prodigy. He works as a programmer, but has zero ambition. He does his work, goes home, and plays video games. He has done this for 40 years. He could have been one of the best violinists in history, or made an impact in medical research, or any other number of things. When we talked about it in the past, his reasoning is: "life is short, I'm going to have all the fun I can before I die."
- glaive123 7y ago
  perhaps this is the conclusion all would reach if they were as smart as your brother
  - somurzakov 7y ago
    when you are smart and don't have a need to prove others how smart you are - you will end up just enjoying your life in full [by playing video games]
    - gridlockd 7y ago
      "Playing videogames" isn't enjoying your life "in full", especially if you're smart and could do things that are really meaningful instead. I'm pretty sure he knows this deep down inside, but that "have fun, don't give a fuck"-attitude is just a too convenient rationalization for being a lazy coward.
      - goatlover 7y ago
        Maybe being one of the best violinists in history wasn't meaningful to him. Or maybe he got tired of the expectations.
        imtringued 7y ago
        Being the best violinist isn't meaningful to me. If he pursued that goal then maybe he would actually reduce his meaningfulness from the perspective of someone else.

delecti 7y ago

I wonder if it's like the gene for sickle cell. Two copies of it are bad (sickle cell anemia), but one copy of the gene can protect against malaria. A bit of genius can be incredibly helpful, but too much can make it difficult to relate to other people.

adnzzzzZ 7y ago

There are two traits that most predict performance in life: IQ and conscientiousness. "Genius", as most people refer to the word, essentially means high IQ. But IQ has no correlation whatsoever to conscientiousness, so you can be someone with extremely high IQ but extremely low conscientiousness. If you have low conscientiousness you're going to be someone who isn't particularly disciplined, hard-working, organized, reliable, etc. So you can get these situations where there are geniuses who achieve nothing because they lack conscientiousness. Most people who end up achieving a lot tend to be high in both traits. And of course, conscientiousness isn't fixed. You can improve it through various means. Although if you're extremely low in it in my view you're likely not going to be able to improve such that you can become the most conscientious person out of 100, for instance.

crooked-v 7y ago
It's worth noting that IQ also isn't fixed, as it can be noticeably affected by wealth, nutrition, family stability, etc, over time.

that_jojo 7y ago

People rarely consider the fact that just because someone is born to be a genius doesn't mean that they'll want to grow up to be an academic. I was born reasonably smart-ish. Did okay in school, have a good job writing code because I have an aptitude for it. But if I had a big dream, it would be in entertainment.

ping_pong 7y ago

Educating a high-IQ child, especially a "profoundly gifted" child (above 145 IQ) is particularly challenging. They get by with their raw intellect for most of school, and everyone compliments them on how smart they are. But they never learn skills like how to study, how to learn, how to persevere etc. So once they hit their plateau, which everyone does, they don't know how to get past it and then they give up. A kindergartener that can read like a grade 8 will work off her raw intellect until she gets to grade 8, but then once her abilities max out, she won't have learned how to get past that, and that's where she flames out. It happens all the time, even to friends of mine in high school. One of my gifted friends did well in high school but unfortunately flamed out in spectacular fashion in freshman year and I haven't heard from her in 30 years, even though we were extremely close and I reached out to her several times over the years.

dhimes 7y ago
Interestingly, this is one of the inspirations for Study Swami. I saw a lot of this- and even with less gifted students but who still didn't know how to live up to their "potential."
etagobla 7y ago
I'm growing increasingly pessimistic about posts like this which claim to have a nuanced understanding of [child development] but actually rely more on personal feelings, anecdotes, and pseudoscience. A smart girl who grows up in a school where everyone's getting pregnant at 14 might end up pregnant at 14. A smart kid who grows up in Flint might have to deal with the same lead poisoning as everyone else, with potentially varying symptoms. A smart kid whose parents are depressed in its adolescence might be depressed. There are many potential causes of burnout and it's extremely unhelpful to assume that we know what's happening to these kids based on "I know a guy who knows a guy". What you're essentially doing is framing a kid's failures as a moral issue of perseverance and study skills when it might be, but it also might not be. Imagine being naturally competent but having a mental illness that invites the public to inject their own personal biases.
- ping_pong 7y ago

legohead 7y ago

My brother is a genius and also a violin prodigy. He works as a programmer, but has zero ambition. He does his work, goes home, and plays video games. He has done this for 40 years. He could have been one of the best violinists in history, or made an impact in medical research, or any other number of things. When we talked about it in the past, his reasoning is: "life is short, I'm going to have all the fun I can before I die."

glaive123 7y ago
perhaps this is the conclusion all would reach if they were as smart as your brother
- somurzakov 7y ago
  when you are smart and don't have a need to prove others how smart you are - you will end up just enjoying your life in full [by playing video games]
  - gridlockd 7y ago
    "Playing videogames" isn't enjoying your life "in full", especially if you're smart and could do things that are really meaningful instead. I'm pretty sure he knows this deep down inside, but that "have fun, don't give a fuck"-attitude is just a too convenient rationalization for being a lazy coward.
    - goatlover 7y ago
      Maybe being one of the best violinists in history wasn't meaningful to him. Or maybe he got tired of the expectations.
      - imtringued 7y ago
        Being the best violinist isn't meaningful to me. If he pursued that goal then maybe he would actually reduce his meaningfulness from the perspective of someone else.