[vph]

Aaron Swart is an example of people whose technical ability (IQ) exceeds their other ability (EQ). His technical ability allowed him to accomplish great technical achievements; it also let him get into troubles at work or with the law, which together with his fragile mental health eventually got him.

[npsimons]

With all due respect, is EQ really that important? We keep getting told that it is, but EQ never won a war; EQ never sent anyone to the moon; EQ didn't cure polio. Maybe cases like Aaron Swartz are a wakeup call to us a society, not that we need to be more "emotionally" intelligent, but that a society with severe hangups chews up and spits out its best and brightest, to its own detriment.

Say what you will about his activities not being in the accepted norm, or his mistakes, but the way we treat mental illness in this country is something we should be ashamed of, and I'm not just talking about the medical establishment.

[vph]

EQ is that important. Simply because you don't live in a vacuum. You live and communicate with other people. You can be as technically capable as you can, but if you keep pissing people off, you won't go anywhere. Now in addition to this, if you are mentally fragile, sooner or later you will be shocked by what society has for you.

It is not the right time to analyze Aaron Swartz, but if you look at what is publicly written about his tenure at Stanford, Reddit, etc., you will see what I am talking about. Is it that important? You bet.