Sooooper Geeeenius.

[mangosteen]

One of the persistent geek intellectual fantasies is that of the lone genius showing their fully-formed brainchild to an astonished and adoring public.* Being a geek who has fallen to the allure of this particular myth more than once, I get it. No one wants to look stupid in front of their peers (Humans! We are them!), so there's this urge to

Comments

[siderea]

You just described precisely a person toiling in obscurity and secrecy, until he springs a full-fledged genius product on the world. It is not the case, as you say, that "the reason that it looks like people spring full-fledged genius products on the world is because no one is listening before that point" if what you just described is accurate -- because in that case, the reason that it looks like people spring full-fledged genius products on the world is because they do.

I figure you're trying to make an important and insightful point, but I'm not sure what. Are you arguing that "things take a lot more work than it looks, because all you see is the final product"? Are you arguing that "most big 'genius' projects are actually the product of teams, even if one person takes credit?" Are you arguing that people think genius is about effortlessness and speed of creation, when really, actual genius in action involves protracted hard work? Or something else

[mangosteen]

Ah, okay. I think I see what happened.

The goal was to emphasize the point about "time", but I was pushing the "solitude" and "timeframe" elements nearly equally. I'll have to edit for clarity.

Thanks!

[siderea]

Yay! You're welcome. I look forward to the next draft.

[drwex]

In re the "lone hero" meme if you're bored sometime you can google "cowboy programmer" and choose your favorite bits of pro/con. There's quite a bit of both.

[deguspice]

I just found this quote about the script for the movie "Sneakers"

http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2012/09/robert_redford_sidney_poitier_ben_kingsley_dan_aykroyd_what_it_was_like_shooting_the_movie_sneakers_.html

"Years later I ran into Phil at the symphony. I asked him I how he was able to come up with such a great script. He blushed and said he had worked on it for nine years. I know spending a long time writing something doesn’t guarantee success. But not giving up on a good idea almost always does."

[perspicuity]

i think this jives well with what some many well known geniuses have said

in particular, thomas edison springs to mind

"Genius is one per cent inspiration and ninety-nine per cent perspiration. Accordingly, a 'genius' is often merely a talented person who has done all of his or her homework."

lots of his other quotes are fascinating.

we rarely know about the 1000s of failures, only the success stories. now take someone like da vinci... he wrote EVERYTHING down. even the fanciful and non-workable (at the time)...

'Results? Why, man, I have gotten lots of results! If I find 10,000 ways something won't work, I haven't failed. I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is often a step forward....'

#

[debsquared]

Another aspect of your story seems to be that the thing that was there, in some anonymous form, becomes recognizable to the onlooker as something of value. Mythologically, Cassandra screaming in the wilderness suddenly becomes Demeter the creatrix, simply because the audience perception has changed.