Is genius born or made? (1 Viewer)

Jon

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From Leonardo Da Vinci to William Shakespeare, from Isaac Newton to Albert Einstein, history is littered with genius who accomplished great things. Yet can we agree on the source of genius? Is it born or made?
 

vba_php

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in my case, MADE. In Christ's case, BORN. I'm sure this post will draw some hell fire from the pros here. I can't wait for those posts to appear! On an unrelated topic, some Excel genius on LinkedIn suggested yesterday that I didn't know the difference between Excel and Access. I didn't wind him up, but rather just laughed internally and kept my mouth shut and left him to drown in his own ignorance.
 

Jon

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in my case, MADE. In Christ's case, BORN
Were you not born too, or were you made on the assembly line?
 

vba_php

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Were you not born too, or were you made on the assembly line?
I think your scientific brain is causing you to think too much Jon. Perhaps you are joking, which I hope you are. :) Shall I present a question to you on a semi-genius level? and yes, I was born, saved by the son, committed apostasy, and then given a 2nd chance. the reason is unknown, but it doesn't matter now anyway. Perhaps you will see the reason why I have returned to my former status in a very short time.
 

Dreamweaver

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I think it's a combination of things DNA and the stive to learn
 

Jon

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Have I fallen into the overthinking trap again? What caused you to commit apostasy? Luckily, you didn't live in Pakistan at the time.
 

vba_php

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what the he$$ does apostasy have to do with life in Pakistan? You've lost me on that one, I believe. I won't tell you what happened, as it's a long story. Just trust me when I say it. But apparently there is more to that that part of scripture than I thought. Do you know what book and passage the explanation is in?
 

Jon

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If you commit apostasy in Pakistan, you get the death penalty. Having said that, it might only apply if you were a Muslim. Maybe they let Christians off, or that they don't care at all about them.

I know little about the specific aspects of Christianity, but I do know a lot about the arguments for atheist vs religious.
 

Steve R.

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There is another critical aspect to "genius". A degree of "insanity" (0% through 100%). Think of John Nash and Bobby Fisher.
 

Dreamweaver

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Good point The higher IQ the more change of insanity I'll be ok then :p
 

NauticalGent

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I beleive that it has been proven that pure genius is imbued at birth and not developed. The accumulation of knowledge and facts, as well as the application of both is not genius.
 

The_Doc_Man

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Well, if Steve R. is right, and insanity is linked with genius, then Adam must be a freakin' super-genius.

More seriously, genius includes a specific ability - to see connections or pathways between things; things scattered in space, time, or logic.

The chess genius sees plays in his head and determines counteractions. Genius strategists in war can analyze and predict opponent's strategies and defeat them before they were aware whom they faced. In a limited sense, George S Patton was like that.

The techno-genius sees interactions between elements of technology and sees how to make them work together, or sees quirks in theory and sees ways to exploit them. Case in point: William F Shockley, inventor of the transistor and thus (in one sense) grandfather of the solid-state chip circuit and great-grandfather of the computer. He applied crystal field theory to materials that were not good conductors, but they could be made to be good by applying a slight bias to one part; in so doing, he used so-called conduction band properties to the practical problem of a low-voltage switching device.

The arts genius can see many parts coming together to become a cogent whole. For instance, Mozart or Bach.

That ability to see the parts and see the whole is discussed in Goedel, Escher, Bach: The Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas Hofstadter. The idea is that you can switch from reductionism to wholism smoothly once you get the image in your head of whatever it is that you are thinking about. While I do NOT claim to be a genius, I do have that particular ability. I have seen many programmers who were skilled coders but terrible analysts because they could never see the forest because of all the trees in the way. So despite having studied systems analysis, they were unable to apply it.
 

Steve R.

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Just a add some "fuel" to the discussion (on the role of DNA). "Why Men Are More Intelligent Than Women". The title of this Psychology Today article is actually more related to click bait. The theme is that intelligence is linked to height rather than sex. But it does highlight that statistical data can be be selectively organized to assert any conclusion one desires (provided the data and correlation is not too closely examined).

Well, if Steve R. is right, and insanity is linked with genius, then Adam must be a freakin' super-genius.
Ahh. A logical fallacy. People who are labeled as geniuses may have mental issues. But people who have mental issues are not necessarily geniuses. Nevertheless, if Adam believes himself be a genius (in his own world), he is by definition a genius. Who can argue with that?:)

William F Shockley, the genius who invented the transistor, like other geniuses seems to have had is own "insane" issues. How a racist genius created Silicon Valley by being a terrible boss. As you wrote "genius includes a specific ability - to see connections or pathways between things; things scattered in space, time, or logic.". So when Shockley, Fisher, Nash see an "obvious" solution, it must be very frustrating for them when a "normal" person fails to understand them. The normal person may also react with feelings that this genius is nuts.
 
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vba_php

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I know little about the specific aspects of Christianity, but I do know a lot about the arguments for atheist vs religious.
I don't know anything about that stuff in Pakistan Jon, but more than likely the Pakistani government's definition of "apostasy" is completely off-base anyway. those people are seriously screwed up and their views are that of extremeists. furthermore, a lot of hatred that you see come from religious people come from that area of the world specifically. people like that were also the same types that killed christ.
 
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deletedT

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From Leonardo Da Vinci to William Shakespeare, from Isaac Newton to Albert Einstein, history is littered with genius who accomplished great things. Yet can we agree on the source of genius? Is it born or made?
Every time I see a kid in Got Tallent show, I tell myself that it's not my fault. There's something in their DNA and I lack it. That simple.
If not, how can a 9 years old kid sing better than any opera singer without one hour of training and simply by watching youtube? You can see a lot of these genius kids.

Yes. It's not my fault.
 

AccessBlaster

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Well, if Steve R. is right, and insanity is linked with genius, then Adam must be a freakin' super-genius.
:ROFLMAO:

William F Shockley, inventor of the transistor and thus (in one sense) grandfather of the solid-state chip circuit and great-grandfather of the computer.
William F Shockley inventor of the transistor in 1947 the same year a UFO crashes in Roswell New Mexico, coincidence? I don't think so.:alien:
 

Galaxiom

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Most extreme abilities are a combination of nurture and nature in more or less equal proportions. There are probably many potential geniuses who didn't end up in the right environment to reach their potential.

Some ordinary people achieved greatness through incredible persistence.
 

The_Doc_Man

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HA HA HA. very funny you guys. You'll witness it soon enough, Richard.

I've already witnessed a part of it.

You're so smart, YOU figure out which part that was.
 

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