StoinovMar 10
Charles Pence

It is very interesting, as I get older, to realize that what looked like "brilliance" from senior faculty members when I was young was just "hey this person has read *a lot* and is pretty good at remembering and connecting lots of interesting things about what they read"

You, too, can cultivate this brilliance if you read *a lot* and practice connecting dots

Mar 10 at 9:10amWeb
Show threadDoug BelshawMar 10

@pence I was talking with my 15 year-old daughter recently about how adults (well, intelligent ones) can talk in multiple paragraphs about certain topics "off the top of their head" because they've said these things multiple times before.

As you noted, these things are accretive, and given that things bear repeating, it's probably a good strategy.

Show threadJohn S. WilkinsMar 10
@pence Until they hit 60…
Show threadPetra van CronenburgMar 10
@pence ... and the best training is to use your own brain and not AI!
Show threadslowtigerMar 10
@pence
Well, nobody has called me "brilliant". Yet. But connecting stuff really is key.
Show threadJoseph C. OsbornMar 10
@pence @rysiek this is part of why I like reviewing papers for conferences! I get to see connections other people make as well and sometimes into new bodies of work.
Show threadJonathan SchusterMar 10
@pence Sounds like crystalized intelligence: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluid_and_crystallized_intelligence
Fluid and crystallized intelligence - Wikipedia

Show threadThe Long TailMar 10
@pence
Show threadSylvia Wenmackers 🦉🍀Mar 10
@pence I think I've always considered it as (and aspired to) erudition.
Show threadCharles PenceMar 10
@SylviaFysica That's also part of it, though I sometimes feel like it's an independent axis. When they combine, it's *very* impressive. (One thing I've particularly liked about moving here is that Francophone academics still seem to *very* much prize that classic ability to deliver an *incredible* oration. The Sécrétaire perpetuel of the ARB will deliver *rhyme* at the plenary sessions of the Academy. RHYME)
Show threadSylvia Wenmackers 🦉🍀Mar 10
@pence Oh, rhyme is definitely another axis! 😮
Poetry dimension ̶u̶n̶l̶o̶c̶k̶e̶d̶ takes praxis!
Show threadMidgePhotoMar 10
@pence
I think some of us can make larger more complicated models in our head.
And some very much larger ones.
There's the connections, and the data, and sometimes a substrate which at least has been well-assembled and tended.
Show threadCharnockMar 11
@pence I actually found (subject area Psychology) that there was a depressing lack of brilliance in senior faculty and their insights became so narrow as to be almost oblique. What I noticed was a lot of younger faculty members were aspiring to connect lots of different fields entirely to insure they could apply for as many grants as possible.
Show threadTerryBMar 11
@pence "Remembering" is key. How much of our education system, from reception to MSc, is built in assessing how much an individual can regurgitate. A system built by people who's success was built on the main skill of being good at regurgitating stuff.
Show threadCharles PenceMar 11
@TerryBTwo Well, the counterpoint here is that reading things isn't good for much if you can't remember any of it later...
Show threadTerryBMar 11
@pence The thing is to be able to recall the essence and how to find the details.
Show threadArbutus 🇨🇦Mar 11
@pence Its also easier if you have sorted out a stable career and a happy relationship and have removed those stressors from your life. Fatigue and fear make people stupider, and rushing around chasing the next grant or the next date take up a lot of energy.
Show threadCharles PenceMar 12
@arbutus For sure. Add to that that many of the apparent "greats" in academia had other resources we don't: especially secretarial and administrative support that has been largely destroyed at every university I know of.
Show threadArbutus 🇨🇦Mar 12
@pence yes, that is another good point! Often behind every great but obsessed man is a devoted wife or a trust-fund that pays for an administrative assistant.