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I think the "young genius" is a function of their times: the area was ripe for a revolution, and it just needed someone to say it. Like some discoveries. It's
by 13ren 18y ago
I think the "young genius" is a function of their times: the area was ripe for a revolution, and it just needed someone to say it. Like some discoveries.
It's easier to see it (and go with it) for a less experienced person, who is less invested in the status quo and less risk averse. At other times, the same young person's risks would achieve little.
OTOH, anyone who is actually there, who actually does it, who is an instrument of a revolution, should be celebrated as if they created it from nothing. Because if we don't encourage it, we'll have less of it. And any person, no matter what their achievement, can be dismissed as a mere agent of the environment - an inhuman and nihilistic view.
- lliiffee 18y agoI think you are on to something. For example, many people see research in the sciences as the progress of a few unbelievable geniuses, with 99% of people contributing nothing and wasting their time. So, for example, progress in Physics is just waiting for the next Einstein to show up to make the next insanely brilliant advance. However, I think that is wrong. Einstein was obviously a huge genius, but with an IQ of 160, I calculate there are currently about 9 million (=3 billion * .003) people walking the earth with higher ones. The stars have to be properly aligned so that it is possible to make such an advance. It is no coincidence that Einstein's discoveries were made so soon after other physicists make the contributions necessary for them. If he hadn't done it, it would have been somebody else.
- wazkomoney 18y agoi am the young genius hacker !