http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/01/opinion/01brooks.html?_r=1 -- the 'modern view' of genius. Makes sense to me.
- quote: "By practicing in this way, performers delay the automatizing process. The mind wants to turn deliberate, newly learned skills into unconscious, automatically performed skills. But the mind is sloppy and will settle for good enough. By practicing slowly, by breaking skills down into tiny parts and repeating, the strenuous student forces the brain to internalize a better pattern of performance." -- exactly!!
- quote: The primary trait she possesses is not some mysterious genius. It’s the ability to develop a deliberate, strenuous and boring practice routine.
- It's not who you are, it's what you do. (law of the cortex: you get good at what you do).
- The subconcious / ability to push skills to the subconcious should not be neglected. Insight apparently is mostly subconcious, and rapid decisions are too - the rational/concious brain is simply too slow and deliberate to form realtime behavior & reactions, but as the above quote highlights, it is also too 'lazy' and accepting to carefully hone a true skill. This requires attention.
- From the guardian -- "Sometimes an overload of facts is the mark of a dull and pedestrian mind, the antithesis of intelligence."
- also: "Intelligence is a matter of output, not scores on a test." We know genius & talent by it's output.
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