Oh shiiiittt..........

[while1]

Bill Gates likely wouldn't be where he is today without his wealthy upbringing.  He may have went on to be successful (relatively) in life, but his rare early exposure to computers wasn't something he would have had if his parents weren't rich.

With Steve Jobs, had his parents not moved to Silicon Valley, the Steve Jobs we knew might have never existed.

Both had a lot of passion, self-motivation, drive, and smarts.  They have personalities which inherently would have led them to probably be successful in life, but it was the opportunities presented to them that they acted upon which truly brought them from successful to extraordinarily successful.

[nslay]

How could I forget, Ramanujan is also a good example of a genius with little university experience. He also possessed abilities that almost no person has.  His abilities and use of these make him a genius (he's one of the handful per century).

[Rule]

How could I forget, Ramanujan is also a good example of a genius with little university experience. He also possessed abilities that almost no person has.  His abilities and use of these make him a genius (he's one of the handful per century).

Yes, I think we have similar intuitive definitions of 'genius'.  I think the word 'genius' is probably thrown around a bit too loosely.  To me it means someone with exceptional (e.g. 1 in 10 million) cognitive abilities.  Of course, the specific cognitive abilities in question could vary.  It would be hard to have more than an intuitive definition of the word 'genius'. 

But I don't think Bill Gates would qualify by my definition.  He is talented, and smart, but I wouldn't be surprised if there were loads of people with similar abilities in silicon valley.

[Sidoh]

How could I forget, Ramanujan is also a good example of a genius with little university experience. He also possessed abilities that almost no person has.  His abilities and use of these make him a genius (he's one of the handful per century).

Yes, I think we have similar intuitive definitions of 'genius'.  I think the word 'genius' is probably thrown around a bit too loosely.  To me it means someone with exceptional (e.g. 1 in 10 million) cognitive abilities.  Of course, the specific cognitive abilities in question could vary.  It would be hard to have more than an intuitive definition of the word 'genius'. 

But I don't think Bill Gates would qualify by my definition.  He is talented, and smart, but I wouldn't be surprised if there were loads of people with similar abilities in silicon valley.

That's a fair definition of genius, I think. I'll agree that Bill Gates probably doesn't qualify.

I think people in my circles tend to reserve the word for people who excel in quantitative thinking, which I think is a mistake.