[contingo]

It's a fascination problem. Everything falls into place when what genuinely deeply interests you coincides with your work, with the source of your motivation to work, and with the source of your mental fitness to do the work. When I think of long-lived scientists, mathematicians, composers, artists who produce brilliant work into old age, these are people who never lose fascination for what they do.

[jackstraw14]

Agreed. Something significant is getting missed somewhere in the pipeline. But still, all of those brilliant people found something inside themselves to drive them. None are/were dependent on society beyond the knowledge that got them to the point where they broke away from the herd and pushed us further, and that's what makes them special.

And yet I think most of them miss something significant as well. It's pretty painful to read Feynman's thoughts on poetry, for example, but following his natural curiosity led him to a place that satisfied all/most of his psychological needs.