tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post7190484310568286687..comments2024-03-28T17:44:11.289+00:00Comments on Bruce Charlton's Notions: Who were the only-moderately-high-IQ geniuses?Bruce Charltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-60573712526904999122010-08-04T16:54:30.538+01:002010-08-04T16:54:30.538+01:00Maybe Descartes? His solution to the collision pr...Maybe Descartes? His solution to the collision problem was a joke. Yet he had the right idea about many things, and did some very good work.<br /><br />In general, there's a difference between cognitive agility and having a "nose for the truth". Being smart can be a liability, as smart people will keeping fixing up a theory that doesn't work. Duffers will just give up. See, for example, the brilliantly terrible David Lewis.Richard Johnshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12551289132326772706noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-24924246061233955602010-08-04T11:17:40.049+01:002010-08-04T11:17:40.049+01:00bgc, wow, that's interesting to hear. I suppo...bgc, wow, that's interesting to hear. I suppose maybe I've been bewitched myself but just haven't snapped out of it yet.<br /><br />I like your blog a lot. Especially your comments on the world of modern science. Great stuff.Chrisnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-38864681181790097712010-08-03T12:08:19.909+01:002010-08-03T12:08:19.909+01:00@Chris - both. I was smitten by Wittgenstein for a...@Chris - both. I was smitten by Wittgenstein for about 4 years - and went so far as to get the offer of a place to study undergraduate philosophy at Trinity College, Cambridge - i.e. Wittgenstien's home (in the end, I didn't do this, fortunately); but I now consider myself to have been - essentially - hoodwinked or bewitched.Bruce Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-18359518833187816542010-08-03T11:37:42.626+01:002010-08-03T11:37:42.626+01:00I majored in philosophy in college, and Wittgenste...I majored in philosophy in college, and Wittgenstein was the only philosopher I studied that I really got a lot out of. His early stuff meant nothing to me, but the later work, which was hardly philosophy but rather a way of looking at philosophical questions, floored me. When you say you think he was wrong about everything, bgc, do you mean early Witt, later Witt, or both?Chrisnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-75171364768289623242010-08-02T16:34:56.823+01:002010-08-02T16:34:56.823+01:00"indeed twentieth century philosophy is alway..."indeed twentieth century philosophy is always wrong about everything"<br /><br />My guess is that philosophy has been affected by professionalization in a way that is similar to how science has been affected.abhttp://anthonyburgoyne.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-75325894089523626212010-08-02T15:04:05.384+01:002010-08-02T15:04:05.384+01:00To return to an old topic, the second wranglership...To return to an old topic, the second wranglership has produced more top drawer people than the USA. Maxwell is assuredly top drawer, Kelvin and JJ both have a strong case, depending on where your intuition draws the line.deariemenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-2654709892634426742010-08-02T10:06:39.919+01:002010-08-02T10:06:39.919+01:00More on JJ Thomson - I found a mini biography in N...More on JJ Thomson - I found a mini biography in Noel Annan's The Dons:<br /><br />'He read mathematics and became second Wrangler. In doing so he joined a remarkable band of those who came second in the mathematical tripos: Whewell, Clerk Maxwell, Kelvin, WK Clifford, William Cavendish and the economist Alfred Marshall.'<br /><br />From the impression gained by the rest of the biog, JJ Thomson looks like a typical genius characterized by super-high-IQ, high creativity (intuitive to the point of being semi-psychotic), autonomous (low empathizing - didn't care what other people thought), and moderately-low conscientiousness - that is Thomson was shambolic and unreliable wrt. boring things like 'life' but worked very hard, continuously, at what *really* interested him.Bruce Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-63378321817669173502010-08-01T20:03:28.832+01:002010-08-01T20:03:28.832+01:00Yes I agree - Second Wrangler (i.e. roughly the se...Yes I agree - Second Wrangler (i.e. roughly the second best technical mathematician of his age in England) is hardly consistent with an only moderately high IQ.Bruce Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-3970878226770827502010-08-01T19:43:19.523+01:002010-08-01T19:43:19.523+01:00Memory says that J J Thomson was said in Cambridge...Memory says that J J Thomson was said in Cambridge to be "not even clever". But I've looked at his Wikipedia entry - perhaps "they" meant that his cleverness was restricted to science.deariemenoreply@blogger.com