> But I don't think that is so likely to result in genius, at least how most people think of genius. Ignoring how ignorant it is to ever claim you know "how mo

> But I don't think that is so likely to result in genius, at least how most people think of genius. Ignoring how ignorant it is to ever claim you know "how most people think of" anything... The original thread referenced Kubrick and Picasso: intellectual, hardworking people. Unless your definition of genius means it is some innate, genetic predisposition for a subject, I'll first refer you back to my word "obsession" and also point out that if we've dwindled down to "IQ" as the lone factor, then what is the fucking point. "Geniuses" are only relevant for their creative outputs. There are plenty of "high IQ, high promise" MacArthur fellows that don't even make a splash, so who cares about their semi-formal "genius" title. The "genius" (person) takes the inkling of a "genius" idea and successfully carries it through to completion. My argument is that we all have genius ideas, and none of the characteristic problem-solving knowledge/infrastructure/time to realize those genius ideas. In order to do that, you've got to know the medium, completely, that is part of genius. This is why Picasso was able to make the strange art that he did. He knew how to precisely capture subjects, lighting. He got bored with it, and wanted to see what else there was. He once said "the chief enemy of creativity is good sense." He only knew that once he studied the classics thoroughly. You see the same story with Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock. Herbie was getting frustrated with what he was playing on tour with Miles in the 60's. Even though it was still masterful, it was boring Herbie to tears. Miles leans over during one of his shows and says "don't play the butter notes". The fuck does that mean? It doesn't mean anything, it's practically an oblique strategy. But Herbie knew everything, and so he took this to mean don't play the 3 in a chord, because it gives the chord too much certainty in its meaning. It solved Herbie's problem. You hear Jonah Hill talking about Martin Scorsese in the exact same way: "Scorsese is a genius because here's a guy a who can walk on set, be handed any logistics blocker, and we're all moving again in under five minutes." How do you get mastery of a subject so that you can solve problems at the highest level? You grind. and grind. and grind. Because you are obsessed. And then you get lucky that you have a genius idea that touches people. So yeah, mastery, genius, they're the same thing, but the genius part is whatever society heralds as relevant.