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The Myth of the Myth of the Lone Genius
the “lone genius” myth:
Austin Kleon • Show Your Work!: 10 Ways to Share Your Creativity and Get Discovered (Austin Kleon)
I’m not saying there’s no such thing as genius. But if you’re trying to choose between two theories and one gives you an excuse for being lazy, the other one is probably right. Paul Graham
Simonton finds that on average, creative geniuses weren’t qualitatively better in their fields than their peers. They simply produced a greater volume of work, which gave them more variation and a higher chance of originality. “The odds of producing an influential or successful idea,” Simonton notes, are “a positive function of the total number of
... See moreAdam Grant • Originals
For centuries, the myth of the lone genius has towered over us like a colossus. The idea that new, beautiful, world-changing things come from within great minds is now so common that we don’t even consider it an idea. These bronze statues have come to seem like old-growth trees—monuments to modern thinking that we mistake for part of the natural wo
... See moreJoshua Wolf Shenk • Powers of Two: Finding the Essence of Innovation in Creative Pairs
Contrary to the pervading quantity myth, creative geniuses don’t become geniuses by narrowly working in one area, striving to produce one ‘great work’; they cast the net widely and produce many things in the hope (but not the knowledge) that some might succeed.† But why does this myth have such a hold on us?
Bec Evans, Chris Smith, • Written
Recently I was discussing with a friend the hypothesis that aristocratic tutoring (of the kind we don’t do anymore) is the only known consistent method to at least occasionally produce geniuses, to which he objected “What about Einstein?” A great point. Einstein’s reputation makes him seem one the most democratic of geniuses, a term he’s synonymous... See more
Erik Hoel • Why We Stopped Making Einsteins
Our species is the only creative species, and it has only one creative instrument, the individual mind and spirit of a man. Nothing was ever created by two men. There are no good collaborations, whether in music, in art, in poetry, in mathematics, in philosophy. Once the miracle of creation has taken place, the group can build and extend it, but th
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