People who are popularly considered to be geniuses...when they're not.

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Reply 40

Ewan

Sgrafitti

1) Stephen Fry
2) David Mitchell
3) J K Rowling
4) Stephenie Meyer

Anyone else :teeth:

I know, I hate how knowledge is synonymous with genius.

Reply 41

shon3n jump

Heres a definition of genius, those in the top .01% for IQ in a gaussian bell curve distribution.

So anyone with an IQ of greater than about 150

Following that I doubt many people on the list are at genius level although IQ is an inherently flawed system, failing to take into account the myriad of different allotropes of intelligence. Social, Emotional, Creative, Musical, Linguistic, Logical-Mathematic, Interpersonal, Intropersonal, Spatial and Kinaesthetic are all types of intelligence

A system which only takes into account Logical-Mathematic intelligence and is biased towards whit middle class americans is inherently flawed,

Reply 42

Leopold Bloom

Tootles

No, I wouldn't say Ali is a genius. He was a boxer, he just punched people. What makes that so clever?

You give him too little credit, but that's besides the point. I was more asking it in order to see what your definition of genius is. This is the problem with this thread, to discuss genius without a concept of what people consider genius is fruitless. A quick Google throws up a variety of definitions (although I don't have the OED's definition at hand).

I just wanted to see whether it's solely reserved for the intellectual. Whether it's an extraordinary aptitude for a particular skill or field. Whether there's room for the physical in the definition or whether it's all mental. What skills can be considered genius when they're excelled in and what can't.

Reply 43

Vokes

gen·ius (jnys)
n. pl. gen·ius·es
1.
a. Extraordinary intellectual and creative power. <--- Einstein
b. A person of extraordinary intellect and talent: "One is not born a genius, one becomes a genius" (Simone de Beauvoir). <-- J K Rowling
c. A person who has an exceptionally high intelligence quotient, typically above 140. <-- Stephen Fry

Depends what definition you pick, they all have a case.

Edit: That was handy considering the post made while I was writing this lol.

Reply 44

shon3n jump

Although myself I wouldn't rate Ali as a genius, Kinesthetically he may be defined as one I just consider Boxing brutally pointless.

Reply 45

TableChair

Tootles

This proves that the system is broken. A genius is not defined by public opinion, it's defined by intelligence.

Pleh.

EDIT: Stephen Hawking is not a physicist. He is a mathematician. And I'd put him ahead of any of those others, along with Miguel Alcubierre. Those other people are nowhere near being geniuses, they just did something people like. Matt Groening a genius, because he conceived the Simpsons? Though I admit that the WWW was only one of several things that Tim Berners-Lee did; he did work at CERN so he must be intelligent anyway.

He's a theoretical physicist.

Reply 46

TableChair

Rucklo

You can say this kind of thing about Einstein.

People who claim he created the idea for the A-Bomb.

He came up with the very basic idea and people took it on to the actual think.

LOL

Einstein was a genius. He made a massive contribution to physics. He came up with General Relativity. He won the Nobel prize for his work on the photoelectric effect, which helped lead to quantum theory. He also made big contributions in other areas of physics. He's one of, if not the greatest theoretical physicist of all time.

Reply 47

Tootles

TableChair

He's a theoretical physicist.

So why has he said that he is a mathematician and not a physicist? How come he holds the Lucasian chair, if he is a physicist?

Reply 48

TableChair

Tootles

So why has he said that he is a mathematician and not a physicist? How come he holds the Lucasian chair, if he is a physicist?

Got a source for that?

So did Paul Dirac, he was still a theoretical physicist. Admittedly the line between theoretical physicist and applied mathematician is rather blurred, however Hawking is generally regarded as a theoretical physicist given that all his major contirbutions have been to physics.

Reply 49

sksflipper

Tootles

So why has he said that he is a mathematician and not a physicist? How come he holds the Lucasian chair, if he is a physicist?

He did an undergrad in Physics, he worked with Penrose (mathematician), holds Lucasian Chair. I'd say he was fairly able in both discipline.

Newton also held Lucasian chair, is he a mathematicain or physicist? I think you can be both

Reply 50

ShinyApple

Leopold Bloom

I wouldn't call anyone from that list a genius though, but very intelligent/sophisticated.

Problem is you, and half of the people in the thread, don't know most of the people on the list.

JK Row. is a twirp.

Hawking IS a genius.

Fry is pretty smart and can use language in clever and effective ways.

Tarantino deservedly occupies spot 100. The one no other real genius would want.

Tootles

So why has he said that he is a mathematician and not a physicist? How come he holds the Lucasian chair, if he is a physicist?

Tootles you fruit, Physics and Maths are so far intertwined that they might as well be sleeping together, especially once you get past A-level stuff. Mathmaticians often have to look at physical problems to get their kicks.

Reply 51

Escher

danny111

Talent hits a target no one else can hit; Genius hits a target no one else can see

Yum, Einstein quote. amirite?

Fry isn't a genius, that implies some kind of innovation or creative energy. Fry is just a wonderful person with a massively high level of intelligence.

J.K is to some extent, I would say the quality of writing brings her down, but that would be ignoring the fact that it's a 'childrens book', which is something that's very easy to do since it's so captivating.

Stephanie Meyer is no more than a genius than Dan Brown (that is, absolutely not at all).

David Mitchell just has a very good and appealing sense of humour for somebody that's actually just a very clever and massive nerd.

There are very few people out there that deserve the 'genius' tag, we're all too ready to apply it to people we like.

Reply 52

KwungSun

I still don't really understand how so many people can comfortably assess the "genius" of famous theoretical physicist without even a glimmer of appreciation for what they actually achieved.

I'm not saying they're not geniuses, they probably are, but how does one propose to rank them against other "geniuses" if one doesn't even understand what they're famous for?

Reply 53

conversecookie

you know, i heard something hilarious and I can't remember where from, but apparently Lady Gaga is a lyrical genius. I was amused :tongue:

Reply 54

CombineHarvester

pencilcase

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1567544/Top-100-living-geniuses.html

depends what you mean by genius.

Interesting, Bin Laden is level with Bill Gates.

I think genius is when you conceive ideas which no-one has thought of before you. A lot of people can just learn a lot and memorise loads of information but it takes a genius to use their brain to come up with something new. They're the ones who advance humanity.

Reply 55

KwungSun

CombineHarvester

What do you call "new"? If I invent a couple of new words am I a genius?

PS If one looks at the ridiculous vagueness of the criteria in that Guardian article ("paradigm shifting" wtf?) the crapness of those rankings becomes pretty clear.

Reply 56

HCD

pencilcase

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1567544/Top-100-living-geniuses.html

depends what you mean by genius.

"The top 100 living geniuses was compiled by a panel of six experts in creativity and innovation from Creators Synectics, a global consultants firm."

HEY LOOK THESE SIX GUYS BRANDED THESE GUYS GENIUOSUSUSUSUSUSUSUSES THEY MUST BE REAL KLEVAR LOLOOOLOLOL.