Is the ancient model of genius gone forever?

[WALKYRIA]

You know our holy model the Einstein, Nietzche.... and the likes?
It seems that modern day genius are first and foremost business genius...
I'm thinking of Elon Musk.. this little boy is a forty something and has big dreams. No one would have thought of him as a genius before he became millionaire... but now he's rich and has the means to make his dreams come true. Besides money, What he seem to have more than the rest is vision... And I'm sure most of you have, no?

I seriously wonder what NT's lifestyle and ambitions would be if we all were billionaires lol... ok like if their were cople thousand of bill gates, zuck and teslas? I wonder..

Let's dreammm

PS: and also should we switch model before it's too late?

 

[Rook]

imo genius is historical.

We now see galileo and da vinci as geniuses, but in their times they were not widely regarded as such.
Sure, some did recognize their intellectual prowess, but it was not a universal status, rather localized.

So within a 100 years our generation may also have it's einstein etc etc

 

[WALKYRIA]

OK
so you mean genius is a sentimental interpretation of someone's work?

 

[Rook]

OK
so you mean genius is a sentimental interpretation of someone's work?

No, I mean that discoveries made within the past 30 years may have more reverence in the future due to their accumulative effects.

Look at Einstein, during his lifetime he was hailed as a genius, but his discoveries hold much more meaning now after their implications have been further studied over successive generations and new technologies have been developed from his initial principles.

Did people during newton's time hail his efforts as essential for man's ascent into space?
Or did people view da vinci's idea of a helicopter etc etc as viable?

TL;DR: I would say genius is a successive interpretation. The more a discovery yields, the more the person will be seen as a genius by future generations.

 

[Black Rose]

there are 4 levels

1. oblivious to genius
2. recognize but can not reproduce "his" work
3. can reproduce "his" works but can't create anything new
4. totally new creative ingenuity or impossible to see (a hidden abstraction)

level 4 are multidisciplinary as to combine what is needed to create.

most geniuses are not public figures, many are unknown and keep secrete

 

[Ex-User (9086)]

There is more "prodigious" people alive than ever before simply because there is more people on earth. Normal distribution holds. Aside for that there are better conditions for fostering healthy growth and better gene pools.

Now if you think of breakthroughs and people that will be remembered by their exceptional contributions, it will be far less, because there is a much more limited number of things to be remembered for and the ever increasing bar of competition.

Another thing to consider is how progress could be measured as part of team effort or solitary endeavour. Team players tend to be overshadowed by lone wolfs with claims to success.

I'd guess that many people could surpass Einstein's/else's genius today if compared (within some standarised variables), but they wouldn't be nearly as renowned or have the same opportunity to discover as people in the past.

Might be that the shift of popular media is on the entertainment and business venues, but recognition in the scientific community is still a thing. Einstein became a figure of popular culture with a great but not that uncommon contribution to science, similar to Bohr, Feynman, Maxwell, Faraday, etc. But they aren't nearly as popular.

And people usually don't remember the mathematical geniuses!
Riemann, Godel, Gauss, Fermat, Poincare, Pascal, Euler, where's their piece of recognition, their share of televangelised pie?
Public knowledge as a measure of accomplishment is BS.

 

[ProxyAmenRa]

Geniuses have far more opportunities these days than the past. I work with a number of genius level individuals (boss and colleagues). They're more intelligent than I but I am guy who gets shit done.

 

[Architect]

I think so. I'd differ from Proxy in that I define Genius as an extremely intelligent expert, who also happens to so singularly important work. In terms of "extremely intelligent experts" they're a dime a dozen. I'm one, I work with a bunch and have met hundreds in my work. But none of us have names that an average person would know. Most Nobel Prize winners these days don't make that cut. I think it's that level of notoriety that makes a "genius".

Historically I agree, I think that the level of education and wealth has risen sufficiently that there are so many talented people (that earlier wouldn't have been educated) doing work that the bar for doing something truly original and singular is much harder. Additionally it's possible that the hard problems are so much harder that it takes teams, so no one individual will get credited.

Take A.I. I doubt there will be an individual named as the genius who ushers in G.A.I., it will be a team, or really a number of teams.

 

[Sema]

I believe a genius is simply a hardworking and intelligent person with the ability to persevere and also to be flexible. The solitary geniuses had help from others. There will always be geniuses and great teams. To be extraordinary you just have to put in extra effort and creativity.