Subject: RE: [hackers-il] How to be a Genius

From: Chen Shapira <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 4 May 2001 21:32:02 +0200

> I can't think of anything else right now, but maybe I'll recall something
> later. In any case, what are your thoughts about the question I raised?

I think you forgot Ayn Rand's words (from thhe FountainHead, Roarks last
speech):
"... His truth was his only motive. His own truth and his own work to achive
it in his own way..."

I think that genious involves in some way the concept of Right Thing with
capital letters.

But this is only part of it, because there are too many people with a strong
passion for Right Thing, and none of the geniouses.

Somehow we are still missing the mark.

I think the concept of "Smart and getting things done" has a lot to do with
it. Many people are smart, without the ability to get things done. Probably
I'm one of them, talking a lot about right things, right architectures,
right SQL and so on, never actually doing anything about any of it. Other
things get things done, but in a stupid way, you know those beginner
programmers who cut and paste code instead of writing functions? They get
things done in a stupid way. I think a prequisite to being a genious is
having both those traits.