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How many Albert Einstein like geniuses never reached their potential?

posted 10 years ago by mxzt
21 replies | jump to latest

I wonder how many of these people never reach what seems like what they are destined for. Because of some sort of unfortunate circumstance in their life.

I'm sure there is many reasons why. Maybe they passed away prematurely. Maybe they didn't have the opportunities to fully spread their wings.

And I also think about people who are genetically physically gifted and they just didn't have opportunities to become that remarkable athlete. Maybe they were pushed into something they never really wanted to pursue. Or maybe some psychological reason.

I can speak the last point firsthand. I was gifted physically, I excelled in sports like football and boxing to name a few. But as soon as their was high expectations or more attention that was put on to me. I would than quit the sport altogether.

I purposely sabotaged my potential to be great in that particular sport. I'm not completely certain why. I know one thing, I didn't revel in being the center of attention. I hated it. I also have from time to time really bad social anxiety. Which also affected my schooling as well.

So I wonder how many people out there really never reached what they potentially could of achieved. I'm pretty sure their is many, it's just that no one ever got to discover them.

And those that do reach their potential or close to it in what they are gifted at are unfortunately few and far between.

Who know's maybe there was a person out there who could of discovered a cure for certain diseases or just discovered any kind of world changing thing, but he ended up dying in world war II or some other unfortunate incident.

[–] TxMike 10 years ago

Probably many, and the book "Outliers" spends some of its content discussing this. In essence if you don't have the correct type of nurturing as you grow and develop then you don't get the social (practical) skills required to make the genius in you work for greatest effect.

Christopher Langan is a good example of this, perhaps the smartest person lining today but he never accomplished as much as he might have because his fractured upbringing and undeveloped social skills inhibited him. Read a bit here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Langan

Through history I'd bet there were (are) many such.

..*.. TxMike ..*..
Make a choice, to take a chance, to make a difference.

[–] Trackmaster 9 years ago

TxMike: Probably not as many as you would think. Maybe for the top 5% of intelligence this may be a problem, but if somebody is as brilliant as Einstein, Nash, or Good Will, people will take notice and help them out. They'd probably also be smart enough to figure their way out. I think that Good Will was unusual because he had emotional issues and preferred living a bluecollar lifestyle when he was steps away from opportunity.

The movie focused on a very unusual part of the country (that's totally gentrified by now). Places like the old Southie and Queens are cities that are very white, but yet very trashy and commensurate to what you'd find in a stereotypical ghetto. It's almost like they choose to live that way because they enjoy the lifestyle. But as I was saying, Southie is very gentrified now, and Queens is creeping up.

[–] TxMike 9 years ago

Trackmaster: The problem is, because of the actual subject, we can never know how many, can we? Simply because they never reach their potential so we seldom hear about them.

..*.. TxMike ..*..
Take a risk, Take a chance, Make a change. Kelly Clarkson - Breakaway

[–] Trackmaster 9 years ago

But does it matter? This kind of competition is a zero sum game. If they're achieving something, it means that other people's accomplishments are lessened. It's not like art, science, or medicine, where greatness leads to helping somebody or creating something of value. If anything, in sports, the only time you're creating something is when you make a well commissioned league, create great rules for a game, or create a great fan experience.

[–] Trackmaster 9 years ago

Mellomoviereivew:

Totally different analogy in my opinion. Who cares if kids can run 4.2 or 5.8 second 40 year dashes (from a universal good standpoint). Sure, they might get the glory of being #1, but your efforts are wasted because the former #1 who was working hard is now #2. I think that the purpose of pushing hard is for universal good beyond a recreational sporting event. Curing cancer, helping the poor, technological advances, artistic expression, etc.

[–] TxMike 9 years ago

" Who cares if kids can run 4.2 or 5.8 second 40 year dashes... "

Yeah, I know, those 40 year dashes can take a long time! 

..*.. TxMike ..*..
Take a risk, Take a chance, Make a change. Kelly Clarkson - Breakaway

[–] 9 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Brommabo 9 years ago

I imagine many Einsten's have lived and died in small farming villages in developing countries.

[–] Chomskyan 9 years ago

Probably countless numbers of them, most great figures in human history were from highly priviledged backrounds.

[–] tommi-53134 9 years ago

The ugly truth about today's world is that a genius like Albert Einstein would be seen as a failure unless he became insanely wealthy from his intellect. Einstein died in a very modest home in Princeton, NJ in 1955 and didnt have a huge bank account. Somebody like Donald Trump would call him a "loser".

Hollywood has already made two movies about Steve Jobs and many people now call him a "genius". Funny, but up until 2011 most people thought Jobs was nothing more than a slick salesman and egotistical jerk! I've used lots of Apple products in the past 25 years and never once did I say to myself "a genius made this". Most of it is overhyped and overpriced junk. I continue to be amazed at how much GPS enhances our lives and it wouldn't be possible without relying on Einstein's Theory of General and Special Relativity --- and yet him and his heirs have never received a single penny from this wondrous technology.

I think in modern times it would be easy for a guy like Albert Einstein or Will Hunting to become very famous and very rich if they so desired. All they would need to do is hire a couple top-notch patent lawyers and let the brainwaves go into overdrive. The amount of money Einstein could've made from nuclear energy alone would be a stack of cash higher than Mount Everest.

Just makes me sad that our modern world can't appreciate pure genius for it's own sake without having lots of $$$ signs attached to it.

[–] bhoover247 9 years ago

Somebody like Trump would indeed call Einstein a loser. However, the majority of people in America don't use Trump as their gauge in judging people.

[–] dgcasey 9 years ago

Oh for God's sake, Trump would not call them losers. The losers are those that don't even try to reach their potential, usually blaming everyone and everything else for their failures. It's always the fault of someone else. Einstein reached his potential and beyond. He went from being a lowly patent clerk to becoming a world renowned physics wonder. Just because he lived in a small house in Princeton, NJ and never banked a million dollars doesn't make him a failure. Failure would have been if he had known he was a genius and knew how the universe operated, but decided not to push that envelope and just stayed in the patent office for the rest of his life.

[–] [deleted] 7 years ago

"the majority of people in America don't use Trump as their gauge in judging people."

Please. All this talk about Trump... how many Americans do you know who can name 5 actual living scientists let alone intelligently discuss their fields of study beyond the "Science" channel level of understanding? Now, how many Americans do you know who can name 50 pop stars, athletes or movie stars and discuss their lives and arts at length?

I'm sick of people placing themselves up on an intellectual pedestal like they're in the know. Most people on the street don't give a crap about leaders in science and technology. Steve Jobs did an extraordinary job, otherwise you'd not even know his name. There's a couple million salesman and tens of thousands of CEOs. What made this one so noteworthy? You call it overpriced junk but for all your "insight" you're not producing anything any better or at least not any wiser.

A lot of different peoples' efforts went into any single technology you can name who'll never see a cent from it. It's called Standing On The Shoulders of Giants. That's just how it works.

[–] [deleted] 7 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Hamsterman11 9 years ago

Not sure but you need to be extremely highly motivated in order to fulfill your potential. I suspect quite a few 'geniuses.' never had the motivation of a Hawking or Einstein in order to achieve great things. Also the socio-economic thing as well.

[–] redmo_2003 9 years ago

speaking to you with a high intelligence, I find it laughable that you think I need to ehhh "hit my goals"

[–] Hamsterman11 9 years ago

Then you completely missed the point I was making. Which means you probably aren't as smart as you think.

[–] dgcasey 9 years ago

I wonder how many of these people never reach what seems like what they are destined for. Because of some sort of unfortunate circumstance in their life.

I've wondered the same thing lately. I'm an artist and I've been wondering how many Monets and Rembrandts never reached their potential because people kept telling them they needed to get a "real" job. They gave up on being an artist and spend their lives in unfulfilling and mindless jobs.

[–] bhoover247 9 years ago

The best rock band members usually come from upper middle class families. Since they aren't poor they can depend on their families until they hit it big. Rich kids usually give up on rock stardom when pressured by their parents to take over the family business.