People with a Different Sort of "Genius"

[Uncle Gizmo]

Examples: Claude Shannon ,

That's a lovely read on Claude Shannon thanks Jack...

 

[jdraw]

Tony, any comments on the other?

 

[isladogs]

@Jon

Meanwhile, Einstein is running amok, creating nuclear bombs and saying untruths.

Oh really? What possible link can you give linking Einstein to the creation of nuclear bombs?
As for untruths, what are you referring to?

 

[Deleted member 147267]

That's totally inaccurate. Oppenheimer gets most of the credit for the A bomb. Heck, Einstein didn't even 'discover' nuclear fission.

 

[Jon]

I know. I was only kidding. He was in the chain of events. I was talking about a fictitious scenario of a computer simulation.

Chain Reaction: From Einstein to the Atomic Bomb

From his theoretical contributions to his influential letter to President Roosevelt, here is the real story of Einstein's indirect yet pivotal role in the atomic bomb's development.

www.discovermagazine.com

 

[jdraw]

Yes, but Einstein did discover "physics" after graduating from his role as examiner at the patent office.
Let's throw another name into the mix --Richard Feynman --part time bongo drummer and thinker/communicator among other things.

 

[isladogs]

For the record, Einstein was opposed to the use of nuclear weapons and played no part in their development

 

[Jon]

Oh, untruths bit was about him saying God doesn't play at dice.

 

[Jon]

played no part in their development

No Einstein, no bomb.

played no *intentional* part in their development

That is a true statement.

I watched a great series about Einstein a year ago. Well worth the watch: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5673782/

You get all the juicy detail about his life in there.

 

[Uncle Gizmo]

Richard Feynman

I've just finished reading the book about him:- "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman" - for the second time... I particularly liked how he cracked all the safes in The high security atomic bomb labs!

 

[Uncle Gizmo]

, Maurice Cotterell

At the risk of offending you I wonder if you meant this one was a Kook, as you describe it. When I saw pyramids mentioned, and anti-gravity, I just switched off. So I haven't paid much attention to the person's musings. Do you think there's any reason I should?

 

[jdraw]

Tony,
No, you probably read enough to form an opinion. No offense. I was just suggesting people who have some talent or genius or "something" that spanned a range for consideration as people with a different sort of "genius". There are some youtube videos on Shannon.

 

[Jon]

How many geniuses are out there that are consider nutcases because they come out with insights that the average person just cannot comprehend?

I am not claiming to be a genius at all, but let me give an example to illustrate the point. When I told the lady in my local coffee shop that I am stockpiling for the coming apocalypse, I got a bit of a "lets just humour him" look. I didn't actually say apocalypse, just that the exponential nature of going viral means most people will drastically underestimate the explosive growth of coronavirus. From the chart I posted about Italy, it was 917 cases of coronarivus 5 days ago. It is now 2,500 today. That is similar to my doubling every 4 days prediction.

Lets play with some maths:

Today, 4th of March: 2,500
8th: 5,000
12th: 10,000
16th: 20,000
20th: 40,000
24th: 80,000
28th: 160,000
1st April: 320,000

One month after that? 41M

What about all those geniuses out there that have insights us common folk just do not understand, and they get ostracised for their views?

 

[The_Doc_Man]

Reminds me of the mythological Cassandra the Oracle, who had a gift and a curse. The gift was oracular wisdom; the curse was to never be believed.

 

[Jon]

Well said Doc, with a heavy emphasis on not being believed.

 

[gemma-the-husky]

some musings.

there are savants (idiot savants)

there is also ineffableness - things we just cannot comprehend. What happens when an immovable object meets an irresistible force. It's just beyond our comprehension.

people with synaesthesia (maybe) for whom numbers are colours, and who can solve numerical problems by visualising the colour representation of the solution. Hard to comprehend.

God is ineffable.

On the other hand, let's say that space/the universe is finite. Outside of space there is nothing. I am happy with that. I can comprehend a nothingness that is outside mere emptiness. But then as computer guys should be able to manage a distinction between empty and null.

 

[Jon]

Can you comprehend that the sentence "outside of space" does not make sense, if there is no outside? I can't comprehend it.

 

[jdraw]

Another poser - M$oft's use of the term macro even/especially when constrained to MS Access.

 

[The_Doc_Man]

The term "Macro" appears in many Office elements. My though is running a macro action on a micro computer.

 

[jdraw]

Agreed Doc, but macro has meant vba code in earlier versions as well as macros and macros continue to be confusing to newcomers and others (embedded macro, data macros, named macro...). Just expands the range of what "genius" might entail.