4 ms·

Does anyone have a hypothesis on why William Sidis made such a interesting pivot?

by t34543 7y ago

dredmorbius 7y ago
Something of a political awakening about age 21: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_James_Sidis#Politics_and_arrest_(1919–1921) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_James_Sidis#Politics_a... Seems to have opted out of society for the most part afterward.
- TeMPOraL 7y ago
  That paragraph in Wikipedia seems to me to subtly imply his parents' attempt at "reforming" him could be relevant here.
  - justinjlynn 7y ago
    A reasonable conclusion. What is perceived as society turning its back on you and betraying you, has a tendency to generate the same in return - especially in people who have a tendency to see more in things than the average person.
GuiA 7y ago
Somewhat similar stories with eg Grothendieck and Kaczynski. As the article points out, one of the properties of genius is that it can’t really be deliberately focused.
- vijayr02 7y ago
  Reminded me of https://magazine.atavist.com/promethea-unbound-child-genius-montana https://magazine.atavist.com/promethea-unbound-child-genius-... I think future generations will see our inability to provide opportunity to genius to rise up as a criminal waste of potential. I sometimes idly speculate how different human society would be if we raised our offspring communally, with every child given the same (high) opportunity to express their capabilities. As usual Asimov has a riff on this: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Deep_(short_story) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Deep_(short_story) - worth reading the original story though...
- jfoutz 7y ago
  > one of the properties of genius is that it can’t really be deliberately focused i think this is true. I think there is a statement that is a bit more crisp, genius focuses intensely on what it must. I, an average person, can focus or not on whatever. perhaps i'm a genius. I'm not a fool, but i'm also not pushing the boundaries. Your phrasing gives me room to think i'm a genius. (i'm not). Some folks, on the other hand, get hung up on details. And to those details matter a lot. They don't have a choice, in much the same way i don't have a choice about breathing. I'll do it if i want to or not. Genius is obsession. sometimes that obsession leads somewhere and we all benefit. but usually, it's just crazy guy ranting about squirrels.

Does anyone have a hypothesis on why William Sidis made such a interesting pivot?

by t34543 7y ago

Does anyone have a hypothesis on why William Sidis made such a interesting pivot?

Something of a political awakening about age 21: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_James_Sidis#Politics_and_arrest_(1919–1921) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_James_Sidis#Politics_a... Seems to have opted out of society for the most part afterward.

TeMPOraL 7y ago
That paragraph in Wikipedia seems to me to subtly imply his parents' attempt at "reforming" him could be relevant here.
- justinjlynn 7y ago
  A reasonable conclusion. What is perceived as society turning its back on you and betraying you, has a tendency to generate the same in return - especially in people who have a tendency to see more in things than the average person.

GuiA 7y ago

Somewhat similar stories with eg Grothendieck and Kaczynski. As the article points out, one of the properties of genius is that it can’t really be deliberately focused.

vijayr02 7y ago
Reminded me of https://magazine.atavist.com/promethea-unbound-child-genius-montana https://magazine.atavist.com/promethea-unbound-child-genius-... I think future generations will see our inability to provide opportunity to genius to rise up as a criminal waste of potential. I sometimes idly speculate how different human society would be if we raised our offspring communally, with every child given the same (high) opportunity to express their capabilities. As usual Asimov has a riff on this: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Deep_(short_story) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Deep_(short_story) - worth reading the original story though...
jfoutz 7y ago
> one of the properties of genius is that it can’t really be deliberately focused i think this is true. I think there is a statement that is a bit more crisp, genius focuses intensely on what it must. I, an average person, can focus or not on whatever. perhaps i'm a genius. I'm not a fool, but i'm also not pushing the boundaries. Your phrasing gives me room to think i'm a genius. (i'm not). Some folks, on the other hand, get hung up on details. And to those details matter a lot. They don't have a choice, in much the same way i don't have a choice about breathing. I'll do it if i want to or not. Genius is obsession. sometimes that obsession leads somewhere and we all benefit. but usually, it's just crazy guy ranting about squirrels.