Can anyone explain to me why highly scholastic people always seem to be the most awkward? That's one thing I found really interesting while reading these articles. Newton not having friends or even to call someone his students, and the Bernoulli Brothers fighting over the discovery of their cycloid and the differential equations with the second and third degree.
Besides that, I find it interesting on how closely related all these Mathematicians were. It seems like they all bounced, borrowed, or claimed ideas that were very similar, if not the same. They always seemed build off each other's previous ideas and try to make it their own. Like the instance with Newton and Leibniz fighting for who invented Calculous and when Newton, Leibniz and the Bernoulli Brothers all figured out the cycloid, the solution to the brachistochrone problem. This just makes me wonder who really invented what in the mathematical world and who just borrowed ideas and called it their own?
I think the connection between social ineptness and mathematical genius is a very interesting point you bring up. At least from what I've experienced, it seems like there's a trade off. People who are exceptionally bright and good with math often lack proper social form as we have grown accustom too. A perfect example is Newton. It's extremely rare to have someone who excels in both mental capacities.
ReplyDeleteI'm no brain expert but I feel like mathematics and reason/logic stem from completely parts of the brain than social reasoning does. I think there is a bit of a trade off, you either get one or the other or some kind of mix of the two. The great minds in math and science tend to have spent much more time developing the math and logic parts of their brain rather than the social parts. It's just like anything else in life, the more you practice something, the better you get at it. They didn't have any interest in talking/socializing with people so, naturally, their social skills were underdeveloped.
As much as I want to ignore it, most technically minded people I know are a little lacking socially.
ReplyDeleteI think relating to others is a very emotional experience, but when you're doing mathematics, you have to be very objective and almost unemotional.
Back in the days when we didn't study the world scientifically, we personalized nature with human qualities, and made them gods. But now, we study the world objectively and unemotionally.
Not to double post, but in regards to what Cole Yancey was saying about how social skill is a skill that you can work on, here is an article that I've read that I found interesting.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with a lot of what the article says, but it went semi-viral a couple years ago so I'm guessing it resonated with a lot of people:
http://www.paulgraham.com/nerds.html
I understand the correlation you're seeing here between mathematical genius and social awkwardness, and I wonder if an inability to connect well with others or "awkwardness" fosters genius by turning to mind to other pursuits(such as math, physics, or science) once popularity has been deemed a lost cause.
ReplyDeleteI think there is one/two other possibilities that deserves mentioning on this topic (and by this I mean to agree mostly with what Cole and Sung said about the dichotomy between logic and emotion).
ReplyDeleteIn addition to the idea that people who are more logically/scientifically minded will prefer to spend their time away from others and thus not develop their social skills enough, I think that another thing to consider is perhaps the person was born with interests/personality affinities that make them more prone to social oddities - OCD or ADHD, for example - and as a result, they are socially shunned as "awkward" and are thus forced into an asocial environment. Which, since they cannot spend their time socializing, can be extremely conducive to learning and strengthening one's logic.
In other words, it all boils down to the same nature vs. nurture argument. Were they born awkward and asocial and chose to keep society at a distance, or did their social environment criticize their differences to the point that they were driven into solitude?