Is there a "genius" trait in us all?

[FrankDK]

No.  Some people are just all-around stupid.

Frank

[the_antithesis]

They're geniuses at stupidity.

[FrankDK]

> They're geniuses at stupidity.

A bit of an oxymoron, but there might be something to it.  If you administer an IQ test to a subject, and he eats the test, I guess he'd qualify.

Frank

[Colanth]

Einstein was considered a genius because he was a 'effin genius. Math is where he choose to apply himself.

Einstein was a cosmologist.  He wasn't bad at math, but that's not where his genius lay.

People who have genius level intelligence tend to be good at pretty much everything they decide to try. Not always otherworldly good at everything they try mind you. Because certain undertaking require more than just pure intelligence to pull off. A genius who is a world class physicist will probably never be able to keep up with most world class guitar players. But being a genius, that person would likely go a lot further with guitar if they chose to pursue it, than someone with an equal amount of 'musical potential' but lessor intelligence. Being smart helps.

You never heard Einstein play the violin, then, did you?

[Colanth]

Genius, in its simplest form, is the ability to look at a problem that makes most people go "that's unsolvable" and find the solution anyway.

It's the ability to see connections where most people don't see any.  And most geniuses also have more trivia floating around in their brains than others.  (There's a connection there.)

[Johan]

Einstein was a cosmologist.  He wasn't bad at math, but that's not where his genius lay.

Wow. I guess I should feel like quite the asshole for not knowing that. And yet, I don't. Weird.

You never heard Einstein play the violin, then, did you?

Why would I have heard Einstein play the violin? Obviously I never heard Einstein play violin nor was I even aware that he could. So you have my permission to smuggly pat yourself on the back and feel superior as long as you can answer one question. How does any of that render the ultimate point I was making any less valid?

[Jesus]

Genius, in its simplest form, is the ability to look at a problem that makes most people go "that's unsolvable" and find the solution anyway.

It's the ability to see connections where most people don't see any.  And most geniuses also have more trivia floating around in their brains than others.  (There's a connection there.)

That was the definition I was looking for, Colanth. It was lingering on the edge of my tongue. Geniuses see the world differently than regular people do.

[Johan]

Genius' see the world exactly the same as regular people. They're just smarter than regular people.

[Jesus]

Genius' see the world exactly the same as regular people. They're just smarter than regular people.

That's the reason they see it differently compared to others. A genius may look at a supposedly bland object and think of the many wonders it could perform, whilst a normal person may see only the uselessness.

[Johan]

It doesn't take a genius level of intellect to be able to look at an object and see all of its potential uses. It only requires experience and an open mind for that. Likewise, having a genius level of intellect does not mean one will look at an object and automatically see all of its potential uses.

[Jesus]

It doesn't take a genius level of intellect to be able to look at an object and see all of its potential uses. It only requires experience and an open mind for that. Likewise, having a genius level of intellect does not mean one will look at an object and automatically see all of its potential uses.

Actually, it does, for even the smartest of people fail to see the usefulness of some things. A genius operates differently ... he or she can take a problem and complete it with ease. They think differently than we do.

[Aupmanyav]

May not be 'genius', but every person may be very good at some particular job.

[Plu]

Genius, in its simplest form, is the ability to look at a problem that makes most people go "that's unsolvable" and find the solution anyway.

It's the ability to see connections where most people don't see any.  And most geniuses also have more trivia floating around in their brains than others.  (There's a connection there.)

I like this description as well :)

It doesn't take a genius level of intellect to be able to look at an object and see all of its potential uses.

Any object has an infinite number of uses. Not even a genius can see all of them.

[Titania]

A genius operates differently ... he or she can take a problem and complete it with ease. They think differently than we do.

I think you're trying to draw a line of demarcation where there is none. Human intelligence exists on a continuum. There's no sharply defined divider between "geniuses" and "everyone else".

I know plenty of people with genius-level IQs and I can tell you their brains don't work differently from those of lower-IQ people so much as they just plain old work better. There's no special function your brain gains when you break the IQ ~150 mark that makes you think entirely differently than someone of IQ 140 does. Again, it's a continuum, and the performance improvement is generally diffuse and global.

[Johan]

They think differently than we do.

No they don't.