[oldstrangers]

I don't understand either one of these articles to be honest. We're talking about Einstein and Newton as if their success is reproduceable if we just give people time to think? We don't have miracle years now because people like Einstein are impossibly rare. That's assuming Einstein was even human.

We also don't have "miracle years" because the term doesn't actually mean anything. It's not real. Maybe the pressures of life and society forced people long ago to prioritize their work in such a way that the bulk of it was done in a very short, timely manner.

Or perhaps much like an athlete, it's probably ideal to spend your prime doing your best work. Or even still, maybe like me, these people worked on waves of mania and maybe occasionally that manic episode lasted an entire year and they were extremely productive.

All of that said, literally what are we talking about? Don't spend your time on a PhD program, you might be the next Einstein! Einstein wasn't writing blog posts, he was grinding! Please go join the latest YC backed venture and we can disrupt the food delivery industry!

We're all obligated to go outside after participating in either one of these articles.

[angrais]

I'm confused... Are you suggesting Einstein was not human, e.g., an alien?

[oldstrangers]

I'm surprised that I'm having to explain this to multiple people but yes, it's just a joke.

[timbaboon]

Well, I enjoyed seeing the ridiculous responses you got… so thank you :D

[oldstrangers]

Weirdest 30 minutes of my life. Wow.

[otras]

Einstein aside, the jury is still out on a few Martians: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Martians_(scientists)

[sillysaurusx]

People without rare skills often rationalize the skills of others as superhuman. It’s an illusion, but a powerful one.

I don’t have any particularly rare skills either, and I made peace with that long ago. It helps you like yourself for what you do have.

Notice how cynical the tone is of the parent comment. It’s usually a sign that something is wrong.

[oldstrangers]

It's... a joke. Yikes.

[sillysaurusx]

What’s the punchline?

[oldstrangers]

You're projecting a lot of weird insecurities onto a throwaway joke about Einstein being an alien because his achievements were Out Of This World. Clearly no one thinks Einstein was an actual alien. It's remarkable that I'm actually having to type this out.

Relax stranger, there's no weird Freudian argument to be found here.

[sillysaurusx]

I wasn’t talking about your Einstein portion. Your whole comment was cynical.

If you don’t want to discuss it, that’s fine. But it’s not up to everyone else.

I think joining a YC startup to disrupt the food industry is a pretty interesting thing. Most people spend their lives not disrupting anything at all. It doesn’t make them worse people, but it would be nice if they’d not snipe at people who do those things.

[nanidin]

I don’t think you’re arguing in good faith as “out of this world” did not appear until this comment.

This would be similar to calling Einstein a cow, then waiting an hour to say it’s because he’s outstanding in his field.

[Tao331]

The moth went in because "the light was on", which is vernacular for "open for business", but it has a double meaning because moths are attracted to light at night. The punchline itself is admittedly weak -- the humor comes from the fact that you listened to a lengthy story that turned out to be a really bad joke.

[colechristensen]

Einstein wasn’t that special, he wasn’t superhuman, if you transported the same person in time significantly he would have likely been entirely unremarkable. He had many contemporaries just as capable with complements equally as impressive.

He got famous which was a result of a few of his accomplishments being of topics and characters which got the attention of popular culture.

He was also simply primed with being a person of the right kind of potential being in the right place in the right time.

In short, it was very much luck that enabled him. He also worked hard, he was also quite capable, but the hero exceptional human narrative was overdone.

[blenderdt]

Einstein: "I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious."

But to be fair: he was smarter than most people.

[BiteCode_dev]

Anybody very successful has had a lot of luck, that's a given.

But since it's about science, and revolutioning it on too of that, claiming there was nothing special about Einstein make little sense.