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I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein’s brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in

I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein’s brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops. (quote by Stephen Jay Gould)

jatora 3mo ago
I don't see the point of your comment besides sidestepping a clearly revolutionary mind and an interesting scenario.
- probably_wrong 3mo ago
  The point of my comment is to call attention to the SV tendency of hyper-focusing on the newest shiny toy as a solution to all problems while ignoring the real solutions to the real problems we have right now. If we assume roughly 1.2k people were as smart as Einstein when he was born then, thanks to birth rates, we could have our "10000 Albert Einsteins" today. Statistically speaking ~3k of them alone were born in either India or China and are probably working a regular, badly-to-okay paid job [1]. We could be recruiting them today. But no one cares about that because the premise is flawed and it's not about solving "medical, scientific, and societal issues". It's about making money and chasing "interesting scenarios" instead of actual solutions. As the meme format goes, men will literally clone Albert Einstein's brain instead of giving proper funding to schools. And sure, chasing SF scenarios is fun, but let's not pretend that any of it is about making society better. As the sibling comment points out, we are more likely to get a clone of Rupert Murdoch than one of Stephen Hawking. [1] For extra irony we can imagine a non-zero number of them work for patent offices.
  - SauntSolaire 3mo ago
    Well it would certainly help to know before they're born which children are going to be Einstein. Maybe with ten thousand of them around we could ask some to help sort the education system out.
- Ma8ee 3mo ago
  I think part of the point is that Einstein’s genius was only partially the brain. It was also a unique upbringing in a specific point in time that made it possible. We would have many more geniuses if we game more people the opportunities.
the__alchemist 3mo ago
Why not both?

jatora 3mo ago

I don't see the point of your comment besides sidestepping a clearly revolutionary mind and an interesting scenario.

probably_wrong 3mo ago
The point of my comment is to call attention to the SV tendency of hyper-focusing on the newest shiny toy as a solution to all problems while ignoring the real solutions to the real problems we have right now. If we assume roughly 1.2k people were as smart as Einstein when he was born then, thanks to birth rates, we could have our "10000 Albert Einsteins" today. Statistically speaking ~3k of them alone were born in either India or China and are probably working a regular, badly-to-okay paid job [1]. We could be recruiting them today. But no one cares about that because the premise is flawed and it's not about solving "medical, scientific, and societal issues". It's about making money and chasing "interesting scenarios" instead of actual solutions. As the meme format goes, men will literally clone Albert Einstein's brain instead of giving proper funding to schools. And sure, chasing SF scenarios is fun, but let's not pretend that any of it is about making society better. As the sibling comment points out, we are more likely to get a clone of Rupert Murdoch than one of Stephen Hawking. [1] For extra irony we can imagine a non-zero number of them work for patent offices.
- SauntSolaire 3mo ago
  Well it would certainly help to know before they're born which children are going to be Einstein. Maybe with ten thousand of them around we could ask some to help sort the education system out.
Ma8ee 3mo ago
I think part of the point is that Einstein’s genius was only partially the brain. It was also a unique upbringing in a specific point in time that made it possible. We would have many more geniuses if we game more people the opportunities.

the__alchemist 3mo ago

Why not both?