Personally, I think they are born. I feel that in our society, we play up the importance of hard-work, discipline, persistence and all that, while downplaying the importance of genes. I am not saying hard work and such isn't important, just that working hard and being disciplined alone will not make you a true genius. By themselves, they are not enough. Otherwise we could just be pumping out geniuses by making sure all kids work and study hard. But obviously that doesn't happen.

The way I see it: if you have the potential but don't work on it, you won't become a genius. However if you don't have the potential but you work hard on it, you still won't become a genius.

Your thoughts?

This post was edited by JessiWan on Dec 9 2023 05:11pm

Yeah, I pretty much agree with that. I suppose everyone has a scale of what they could potentially achieve given the right environment.

There is also a pretty high chance that someone with the potential to be a "genius" will end up depressed or addicted to a substance. You need an overall healthy mind and balanced life to reach your true potential.

Everyone thinks they are the smartest cookie in the jar anyway. Everybody is a repressed genius because everyone is their own main character.

The older I get and the more I learn the more I realize that individual genius has not contributed nearly as much to the progress of society as we think it has.

Einstein wasn't the first to derive a form of relativity. There were several competing forms and his just happened to be right after his, like, third attempt.

Geniuses of today like Michio Kaku have done way more damage by pushing string theory as the end all of theoretical physics, but I learned recently that string theory hasn't been taken seriously as a contender for that since like the 90's. He caused a lot of damage to the public's perception of science as a result.


Geniuses are both born and made. Put a genius in a random village in vietnam and he's not going to further the world. Put a kid with Downs Syndrome at MIT and he's going to do about as much. It's both. We need to focus on building systems that allow everybody to succeed, and the cream naturally rises to the top.

This is antithetical to the typical free market capitalist mindset where your station is decided by your parents. They talk a big game of "anybody can rise in capitalism" but that's never been true. If you're born to a shitty school and have no access to secure food and housing, then it doesn't matter much how much of a genius you are. You probably aren't breaking out.

This is reflected in the data where the #1 predictor of your success in life is your zip code. Because poverty breeds poverty, because the system is set up to give money to those with money.

you took your old name back?
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how do you know who the genesis are?

This post was edited by TiStuff on Dec 9 2023 08:24pm

Definitely born.

"I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein’s brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops." - Stephen Jay Gould


agreed, theyre both born and made

This post was edited by gnarjay on Dec 9 2023 11:49pm

The point is to design the system so everybody has a chance to be a genius.

Taking my city, the rich part of town has a school that looks like a university campus. It's immaculate.

Then you go in the inner city and it's trash. They barely have books.

Everybody should have a public school like the rich part of town. It will cost more. Your taxes will go up. You will need to raise taxes on the rich people to afford it.

But ya know what? No genius is ever going to lose out on the opportunity to be one. No kid is going to join a gang because the school doesn't care and can't provide an education.

The most productive researchers are the ones that can grind it out. Being brilliant doesn't get you far in science anymore.

So true

And you have to play the social game of tenure, grants , not get scooped, etc

But I am talking about geniuses, not successful academics.