15 ms·

The Genius in My Basement (2011)

42 points by Bootvis 7y ago

609venezia 7y ago
Did anyone here get to experience one of Norton's lectures? It seems "Cambridge failed to renew his contract... citing his eccentric lecturing style which they thought deterred students," so I am curious what they might have been like https://www.thejc.com/news/obituaries/obituary-simon-norton-1.482207 https://www.thejc.com/news/obituaries/obituary-simon-norton-...
- mathgenius 7y ago
  Luckily for us, one of his most important lectures was recorded and uploaded to youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sO0iyzYUTgo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sO0iyzYUTgo Make sure you watch all of it, there's some bombshells in there.
  - 609venezia 7y ago
    Thank you. (For other readers, this is an interview about public transport issues) It sounds like he had a relatively severe stutter. I hope the university didn't fail to renew his contract on that account.
grabbalacious 7y ago
When it comes to geniuses, the inability to hold down a job, eccentricity of style, rudeness, etc, are features, not bugs. The potential benefit to society far outweighs the very real inconvenience they cause to the people around them. So how to accommodate? I would say: (1) identify by their record, (2) attract them, (3) give them a space and a budget, (4) no responsibilities and no position of authority, (5) answerable, informally, to just one person, say a vice-chancellor, (6) exempt from all questionnaires, committees, audits, compulsory teaching, form-filling, etc (7) leave them alone.
- jacinabox 7y ago
  What should I do if a genius in my employ comes up with an innovation of benefit to society?
  - bryanrasmussen 7y ago
    I suppose that would depend on what kind of organization you lead, I suppose most for profit organizations would create a program or structure to monetize the beneficial innovation and reward the innovator slightly in contrast to how much reward the innovation brings, perhaps even spin off a new company - if yours is a governmental organization then this would probably require writing up some reports, asking for funding, and maybe turning the innovation up to the proper agency for dealing with that type of innovation. In the case of NGOs I suppose the history of the Lifestraw would be illustrative https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LifeStraw https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LifeStraw
    - ant6n 7y ago
      That Wiki entry doesn't seem to have anything about a genius working in an NGO, so how is it illustrative.
      - bryanrasmussen 7y ago
        It's illustrative of how an NGO ends up handling an extremely innovative solution. Since I haven't seen any quantifiable measurement of what makes genius I can't say the lifestraw isn't the work of one. However comparing what came before and it, I suspect if it isn't - it's pretty close.
  - pjc50 7y ago
    Make sure you have the rights?
- bryanrasmussen 7y ago
  I have met more people who where eccentric in style and rude, and unable to hold down more than the most rudimentary jobs, that thought these behaviors would be strong indicators of genius to all that encountered them, than I have met actual geniuses.
kvathupo 7y ago
Once I read "public transport addict" in the blurb, I immediately knew it was Norton of Monstrous moonshine fame.
bambataa 7y ago
What is going on with the recent spate of “()” article titles?
- yen223 7y ago
  That's a HN thing, to indicate the year in which the article was published. Typically only used for articles published before the current year.
  - bambataa 7y ago
    When I posted that the title was literally just “()” without anything else. I’ve seen it a few times in recent days.
mathgenius 7y ago
I bought this book after reading about Simon Norton's passing early this year. It's nice to read about this quirky genius, but I did find the author's writing too over-done.

42 points by Bootvis 7y ago

Did anyone here get to experience one of Norton's lectures? It seems "Cambridge failed to renew his contract... citing his eccentric lecturing style which they thought deterred students," so I am curious what they might have been like https://www.thejc.com/news/obituaries/obituary-simon-norton-1.482207 https://www.thejc.com/news/obituaries/obituary-simon-norton-...

mathgenius 7y ago
Luckily for us, one of his most important lectures was recorded and uploaded to youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sO0iyzYUTgo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sO0iyzYUTgo Make sure you watch all of it, there's some bombshells in there.
- 609venezia 7y ago
  Thank you. (For other readers, this is an interview about public transport issues) It sounds like he had a relatively severe stutter. I hope the university didn't fail to renew his contract on that account.

grabbalacious 7y ago

When it comes to geniuses, the inability to hold down a job, eccentricity of style, rudeness, etc, are features, not bugs. The potential benefit to society far outweighs the very real inconvenience they cause to the people around them. So how to accommodate? I would say: (1) identify by their record, (2) attract them, (3) give them a space and a budget, (4) no responsibilities and no position of authority, (5) answerable, informally, to just one person, say a vice-chancellor, (6) exempt from all questionnaires, committees, audits, compulsory teaching, form-filling, etc (7) leave them alone.

jacinabox 7y ago
What should I do if a genius in my employ comes up with an innovation of benefit to society?
- bryanrasmussen 7y ago
  I suppose that would depend on what kind of organization you lead, I suppose most for profit organizations would create a program or structure to monetize the beneficial innovation and reward the innovator slightly in contrast to how much reward the innovation brings, perhaps even spin off a new company - if yours is a governmental organization then this would probably require writing up some reports, asking for funding, and maybe turning the innovation up to the proper agency for dealing with that type of innovation. In the case of NGOs I suppose the history of the Lifestraw would be illustrative https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LifeStraw https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LifeStraw
  - ant6n 7y ago
    That Wiki entry doesn't seem to have anything about a genius working in an NGO, so how is it illustrative.
    - bryanrasmussen 7y ago
      It's illustrative of how an NGO ends up handling an extremely innovative solution. Since I haven't seen any quantifiable measurement of what makes genius I can't say the lifestraw isn't the work of one. However comparing what came before and it, I suspect if it isn't - it's pretty close.
- pjc50 7y ago
  Make sure you have the rights?
bryanrasmussen 7y ago
I have met more people who where eccentric in style and rude, and unable to hold down more than the most rudimentary jobs, that thought these behaviors would be strong indicators of genius to all that encountered them, than I have met actual geniuses.

kvathupo 7y ago

Once I read "public transport addict" in the blurb, I immediately knew it was Norton of Monstrous moonshine fame.

bambataa 7y ago

What is going on with the recent spate of “()” article titles?

yen223 7y ago
That's a HN thing, to indicate the year in which the article was published. Typically only used for articles published before the current year.
- bambataa 7y ago
  When I posted that the title was literally just “()” without anything else. I’ve seen it a few times in recent days.

mathgenius 7y ago

I bought this book after reading about Simon Norton's passing early this year. It's nice to read about this quirky genius, but I did find the author's writing too over-done.