Is Humanity Running Out Of Scientific Geniuses? (Or are they already extinct?) - Polidicks

[quote]Dean Keith Simonton, professor of psychology at the University of California-Davis, has dedicated the better part of his career to studying geniuses--people who possess what he calls the highest level of scientific creativity. He thinks they may very well have ceased to exist. It may be that they have been rendered impossible, simply because of the way science works anymore. Other psychologists and even geneticists have argued that modern society is short on astoundingly intelligent members. Pick your reason, from genetic mutations to lack of education access to politics. [B]But Simonton is talking about more than just smarts. A true genius, that rare member of society, is a real paradigm-shatterer, a Renaissance human who can completely alter the way we understand the world. Geniuses are people who come up with “surprising ideas that are not a mere extension of what is already known[/B],” Simonton said in an email interview with PopSci. “There are personality and cognitive traits associated with the ability to do that, but that's another issue.” [/quote] [url]http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-01/are-scientific-geniuses-extinct[/url]

[url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge's_law_of_headlines[/url]

I highly doubt we're running out of smart people. Maybe we're having less highly publicised scientists, but I doubt it.

I am not sure though I think that we will have them again sometime, after all it takes is time and the education system making science fun. Though we have being getting smarter anyways over the years, so that maybe where all our geniuses have gone, smarter people in general.

No. I don't believe that we have run out, but it does make a good point where it says that it isn't a broad amount of people due to the requirements (uni, grad, post grad, etc). I also believe that you don't have to have a PhD to be a 'scientist'. Not sure about getting your shit peer reviewed, other scientists might not want to bother if you didn't which is a shame, but if you are conducting science, you are a scientist.

They just can't afford to go to post secondary anymore and get picked up by the media because they went to a reputable house of hearning. Or they end up getting harassed in a mismanaged school system to the point they commit suicide or become mental wrecks that cannot educationally mature further. Edited: Or we are setting the bar so high now that we write 90% of them off as not good enough.

well if you think of the chances that someone with the intelligence just didnt go in the right direction or the right career choice, their could be plenty of geniuses that simply didnt go down a scientific route.

[QUOTE=Gnomical;39444558]No. I don't believe that we have run out, but it does make a good point where it says that it isn't a broad amount of people due to the requirements (uni, grad, post grad, etc). I also believe that you don't have to have a PhD to be a 'scientist'. Not sure about getting your shit peer reviewed, other scientists might not want to bother if you didn't which is a shame, but if you are conducting science, you are a scientist.[/QUOTE] I once set an ant hill on fire to see what would happen. I am a scientist :v:

[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;39444573]I once set an ant hill on fire to see what would happen. I am a scientist :v:[/QUOTE]Results: Dirt doesn't burn.

[QUOTE=Naaz;39444593]Results: Dirt doesn't burn.[/QUOTE] Does when you drench it with lighter fluid :eng101:

the "genius" concept has been monetized and gobbled up by elite, wealthy colleges most can't afford. Most geniuses history remembers did not go to a god-tier rich school, yet we associate super rich elite schools with intelligence

There are more geniuses, not less. We just can't concentrate on one anymore.

Probably has something to do with the collaborative nature of modern science. With so many people credited (and rightfully so, scientists historically getting the shaft is always infuriating), it's easy to believe there weren't any "genius"-level minds behind research.

My humanities teacher in eight grade went to Harvard. Dropped out after two years because he hated the snobbishness. Moved to a backwater town where he started teaching, and bought a massive farm out in the middle of no where. He then proceeded to build his house with his own two hands and carved out a water system that flows down the side of a mountain at exactly 12 inches per 1000 feet by hand. This has nothing to do with the thread really. I just thought it would be a good time to talk about how snobby schools can turn away hard working geniuses.

Much of the research performed today (be it labs, universities, or industry) is at the point of "Scientific Genius", especially compared to the discoveries of the past (such is progression). As far as the freely-available, many universities will post free-links to published studies/research performed. Lab research can be viewed in published reports, as usual; and, industry work is typically kept under wraps for obvious reasons. The problem isn't that we are out of "Scientific Geniuses", it is that nobody ever looks for them. The brilliant work done today can often be found only in the busy reports of the researchers, unless the product is close to commercial availability. A very important point to note is the gap between research and actual availability. When I worked on my past internship, I witnessed and worked on a number of projects that are ahead of many technologies available today in the market; but, these technologies won't be ready for the public for a while due to numerous standards and testings they need to undergo. In a nutshell: Be patient and wait for the products of our geniuses to be publicized or be diligent and read the Scientific Journals of the brilliant research work in progress today.

[QUOTE=valkery;39444646]My humanities teacher in eight grade went to Harvard. Dropped out after two years because he hated the snobbishness. Moved to a backwater town where he started teaching, and bought a massive farm out in the middle of no where. He then proceeded to build his house with his own two hands and carved out a water system that flows down the side of a mountain at exactly 12 inches per 1000 feet by hand. This has nothing to do with the thread really. I just thought it would be a good time to talk about how snobby schools can turn away hard working geniuses.[/QUOTE] Given that a great deal of humanity built their homes "by hand" in 90% of history, I wouldn't say it's really that big of a thing to do.

[QUOTE=sambooo;39444515][url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge's_law_of_headlines[/url][/QUOTE] Best thing I've learned about ever. On the topic of the article, there will always at least be a handful of geniuses. Always.

[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;39444604]Does when you drench it with lighter fluid :eng101:[/QUOTE] Or if you carbonate it

[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;39444659]Given that a great deal of humanity built their homes "by hand" in 90% of history, I wouldn't say it's really that big of a thing to do.[/QUOTE] The guy is 68, fell through his roof while building his house which caused him to fracture his hip, and a week later he was back up working on his roof. It's not really a big deal when you think about how people did it in the past, but he makes everything he does almost a religious experience.

Sitting right here guys. I feel like people are stupider but at the same time we just need an emphasis upon science in schools here in america. I plan on becoming an engineer or another type of inventor so i may be able to help farther our advancement

Also, I think Terrance Tao is pretty genius. [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terence_Tao[/url]

there are plenty of geniuses working hard in their respective fields, and there always have been. only a select few have ever become pop culture icons.

[QUOTE=TheDestroyerOfall;39444690]Sitting right here guys. I feel like people are stupider but at the same time we just need an emphasis upon science in schools here in america. I plan on becoming an engineer or another type of inventor so i may be able to help farther our advancement[/QUOTE] We went from putting a man on the moon to arguing whether textbooks should teach bible theories of earth's existence or not. God, how we have fallen... [editline]2nd February 2013[/editline] For the record, the guy [I]isn't[/I] saying there are no geniuses "because they're not pop icons". [quote]A historical tour through the scientific revolution contains many people who fit this definition. In a new commentary in the journal Nature, Simonton calls out Albert Einstein, Nicolaus Copernicus, Charles Darwin, Galileo Galilei and Isaac Newton, among others who really only need be referenced by one name. Each man (and woman--he includes Marie Curie, too) totally upended entire fields of research, or created entirely new ones. That doesn’t really happen anymore, Simonton argues. [B]“When was the last time that someone forced us to rewrite the textbooks in some domain? Or even create an entirely new domain from scratch? Can you think of anybody since DNA?” he said.[/B][/quote]

[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;39444604]Does when you drench it with lighter fluid :eng101:[/QUOTE] That was the lighter fluid burning not the dirt banned from science [editline]1st February 2013[/editline] [quote]When was the last time that someone forced us to rewrite the textbooks in some domain?[/quote] Christianity did that in Texas one time

[QUOTE=Zeke129;39444790]That was the lighter fluid burning not the dirt banned from science[/QUOTE] Was still doing science, so I'm still a scientist even if I got things wrong :v: By Gnomical's definition at least

No, its less single people being praised for discoveries and more groups collectively.

[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;39444753]We went from putting a man on the moon to arguing whether textbooks should teach bible theories of earth's existence or not. God, how we have fallen... .[/QUOTE] You do realize that at the time of the first moon landing segregation had just ended, we were in the middle of Vietnam, and the US was paranoid out of its ass because of "communism", shoving Christianity into everything and blacklisting anyone who was suspected of being a little socialist And that we just recently perfected flexible displays, prototyped transparent smartphones, created semi-living crystals and I'm typing this message on a computer that's a quarter inch thick but can run any of the supercomputer programs they had in the sixties a thousand times over You're an idiot

US is in a very lower shortage and we rely on other countries for smart people for the most part.

[QUOTE=Tacosheller;39444814]You do realize that at the time of the first moon landing segregation had just ended, we were in the middle of Vietnam, and the US was paranoid out of its ass because of "communism", shoving Christianity into everything and blacklisting anyone who was suspected of being a little socialist And that we just recently perfected flexible displays, prototyped transparent smartphones, created semi-living crystals and I'm typing this message on a computer that's a quarter inch thick but can run any of the supercomputer programs they had in the sixties a thousand times over You're an idiot[/QUOTE] You sound like you're looking to pick a fight.

[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;39444837]You sound like you're looking to pick a fight.[/QUOTE] I just think it's really idiotic to compare the best of the past with the worst of the present Every era had great achievements and every era had stupid, shitty people. Don't try to act like one time or another was a golden age, because it wasn't. Everything pretty much constantly stays at the same level of "okayish" throughout history. I mean look what's going on right fucking now. [url]http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2013-01/nasa-will-launch-largest-solar-sail-solar-system-has-ever-seen-2014[/url] This is an article you posted yourself. The world is not ending, people are not getting dumber. You're wrong and you're angry about it.