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To be clear, Tao doesn't say that he is not a genius. Tao was known as a once-in-a-generation mathematical genius before he was 10 years old. (There was a magaz
by gohrt 11y ago
To be clear, Tao doesn't say that he is not a genius.
Tao was known as a once-in-a-generation mathematical genius before he was 10 years old. (There was a magazine article about him and super-gifted education in Australia.) Both of Tao's brothers have extremely high IQ (>150).
Tao claims that you can contribute nonzero progress to mathematics without being a genius, but even so, the requirements he lays out aren't requirements that anyone with a childhood <120IQ has ever done.
What is blog post is saying is that math is not magic -- it takes brilliance AND hard work, not just brilliance.
- mikeyouse 11y agoCompletely off-topic ethical prompt; Should society fund the harvesting of eggs / sperm from his parents to serve as a genius bank for surrogate parents? Could 1,000 children with equal capabilities dramatically alter the course of humanity?
- copperx 11y agoI would venture to say 'yes', assuming that top-notch resources are given to the children. Also, there seems to be a precedent: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Repository_for_Germinal_Choice https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Repository_for_Germinal_Choice
- davmre 11y agoIt's not clear the genetic component is what matters here; you could equally well suggest that Tao's parents should adopt and raise lots of other smart kids. Though cloning 1000 Terry Taos would certainly be an interesting investigation into nature/nature. In any case IQ >150 is not that rare; there are hundreds of thousands of such people alive right now even just in the US. Clearly there are other qualifications to be a mathematical genius. It'd be a wonderful thing if we could reproduce those qualities, but I don't think we know enough right now to say that genetic cloning is the appropriate path.