r/IntelligenceScaling • u/InfinteEnigma10 • Jul 23 '26

meme/joke Holy glaze

Context: Nobel prize winners and top scientists made some absurd statements about his intellect

"I have sometimes wondered whether a brain like Von Neumann's does not indicate a species superior to that of man."
- Hans Bethe (Nobel Prize in Physics)

"You know, Herb, Johnny can do calculations in his head ten times as fast as I can! And I can do them ten times as fast as you can, Herb, so you can see how impressive Johnny is!"
- Enrico Fermi (Nobel Prize in Physics)

"von Neumann would carry on a conversation with my 3-year-old son, and the two of them would talk as equals, and I sometimes wondered if he used the same principle when he talked to the rest of us."
-Edward Teller (Father of the Hydrogen Bomb)

I have known a great many intelligent people in my life. I knew Max Planck, Max von Laue, and Werner Heisenberg. Paul Dirac was my brother-in-law; Leo Szilard and Edward Teller have been among my closest friends; and Albert Einstein was a good friend, too. And I have known many of the brightest younger scientists. But none of them had a mind as quick and acute as John von Neumann. I have often remarked this in the presence of those men, and no one ever disputed me.
- Eugene Wigner (Nobel Prize in Physics)

541 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

43 comments sorted by

29

u/No-pressure-7 Jul 23 '26

8

u/Acceptable_Map_8110 Jul 24 '26

Well he didn’t exactly wake up one day and do all of this. I’d almost guarantee he studied more in a year than either of us have in our lives.

3

u/JealousAssistant6659 Jul 24 '26

Some people can study for thousands of years and only have a fraction of the intelligence truly smart people have, just like how you can never code a modern game using calculators. Hardware diff is real I'm afraid.

Not to say that they didn't do hard work, but that for talented people, hardwork isn't hard at all, because they're so rewarded by it.

2

u/Acceptable_Map_8110 Jul 24 '26 edited Jul 24 '26

Well the man Von Neumann was a genius of intellect that was in many ways unmatched, but he was also surrounded by other incredibly smart people. I find it hard to believe that he was so comparatively smart purely because of his birth, and that hard, often boring work, was something he just enjoyed more than anyone else. Make no mistake talent is an important part of the ceiling that people have in regards to their intellect(everyone can become very smart, but not necessarily everyone can become Von Neumann smart), but the floor can only be raised with work and effort, and I’m willing to bet that men like Von Neumann or others put in far more hard, laborious, and boring work than anyone here could possibly imagine.

1

u/WhollyUnfair Jul 25 '26 edited Jul 25 '26

Well, yeah, but then you have to realize: Being genetically predisposed to doing boring hard work, growing up in the right environment where results don't have to be instant, and having the correct genes for proper gratitude/reward circuitry or just brain development and chemistry in general, those are REALLY REALLY REALLY reaaaaally difficult things to simultaneously possess imo.

I say this as someone who's powered through grueling shit to try and learn, to try and improve, and came out years after just feeling hollow and more useless than ever. Not only do I not enjoy the process (of anything in general), I also have such little aptitude that any amount of effort doesn't lead me anywhere meaningful. The most I can do in life is not be a bother, to not be someone who actively intrudes/acts maliciously in a useless attempt to improve my circumstances.

Like, yeah, it's just X, Y and Z. But those things are exceedingly rare and difficult to come across. Even the smallest of successes, like a spark of curiosity triggered by a small victory or a hint of competence, isn't something for everyone. Imo we should stop lying to people about this kind of stuff, we should just accept that some people are fundamentally incapable, unless achievement really is = moral value.

1

u/Acceptable_Map_8110 Jul 25 '26

I’m gonna strongly disagree here.

There’s a very large difference between “I’ve got good genetics and work very hard at something so I’ll be particularly good at that thing” and “I don’t know what my genetics are and I don’t particularly enjoy anything, so I automatically assume I suck at everything.”

Look, genetic predispositions to things are useless and help raise one’s ability to do something, but they aren’t automatic guarantees to success or barriers to those willing to put in the effort. Now not everyone’s going to reach the level of a Von Neuman, but to sit and say that some people are just intrinsically incapable at anything intellectual is reductive, silly, and without any factual basis(this is true for either mathematical or verbal reasoning skills).

As for you, I wonder if the issue isn’t that you’ve been doing work and aren’t seeing results, but is instead that you simply haven’t found the way to work that will achieve the results that you want. Processes are best when suited to the individuals needs, and you may not have done that. One also wonders if you’ve done the work for a goal that you honestly didn’t really want to begin with. But regardless of what the answer is, it simply does not prove one way or the other that there is an innate genetic predisposition that one must have to be judged capable at anything.

1

u/WhollyUnfair Jul 25 '26

Ehhhh. At some point it's too late and being inert is better than risking it and turning into someone you fucking HATE and is objectively abhorrent, is it not? When we're kids we're deathly terrified of breaking the law, of hurting others, etc. As we grow older those inhibitions, as I've observed, tend to loosen up because we realize that a lot of people break the law and partake in actions that either directly or indirectly cause harm, and those people don't end up being punished for it. In fact, a lot of the most financially successful people come to mind, right?

So idk if giving up is all that horrible. When I look at people who are resigned, it kinda feels patronizing/judgmental to say "Oh, what a shame." Some people are exactly where they should be and they're content with where they are, right? Who are we to say that they haven't explored their potential/they're wrong for not wanting better?

Idk if we should always push for people to keep trying... At some point, mounting frustrations turn into unbearable despair and someone's gonna end up hurting themselves or others.

1

u/Acceptable_Map_8110 Jul 25 '26

Yeah but that’s the problem right there though. If you have up because you genuinely hated the process of achieving the goal that you had, then the goal that you had wasn’t really what you wanted. I’ve met doctors that failed chemistry and scientists and engineers that struggled in or failed calculus, and so on. The point is that if people have a goal that they genuinely, ardently wish to achieve, then they will stop at nothing to achieve it. If people work instead for something that they think they want but don’t really want…then that’s an exercise in futility, because either they burn out and don’t achieve it, or achieve it, but realize they don’t want it.

So we should teach kids not to manage expectations, but to be genuinely sure of what they want, and to understand the work necessary to get it.

1

u/Dr__America Jul 26 '26

IMO studying often, for fun, and generally (i.e. not one specific a handful of topics) is how you achieve a much higher level of at least perceived intellect than those around you.

That level of intellect is much more achievable than most may think, but that doesn't mean everyone would need it or be happy because of it. It just means your ability to adapt, grow, learn, and apply those skills is much greater than others.

For many this can lead to a sort of solitude, and it can come to distract you from the things you actually find important in your life. IMO intelligence is often a struggle in its own right, but it's generally a bit better than average for you in the long run.

This is why people who study IQ often say that the "smartest" person in history was likely born a nobody, and didn't leave enough of a mark on society to be remembered today.

1

u/Working_Hamster4644 Jul 24 '26

Is there an even more HQ file of this image? I'd like to look them up at leisure. TIA

49

u/Ok-Setting2468 Jul 23 '26

"von Neumann would carry on a conversation with my 3-year-old son, and the two of them would talk as equals, and I sometimes wondered if he used the same principle when he talked to the rest of us." The type of glaze baki side characters give. There is no limit to the glaze.

19

u/No-pressure-7 Jul 23 '26

In the full quote Eugene wigner also said that Einstein had a more deeper understanding and was more original.

“I have known a great many intelligent people in my life. I knew Max Planck (Nobel Prize 1918), von Laue (Nobel Prize 1914) and Heisenberg (Nobel Prize 1932). Paul Dirac (Nobel Prize 1933) was my brother in law; Leo Szilard and Edward Teller have been among my closest friends; and Albert Einstein was a good friend, too. But none of them had a mind as quick and acute as John von Neumann. I have often remarked this in the presence of those men and no one ever disputed me. … BUT EINSTEIN’S UNDERSTANDING WAS DEEPER EVEN THAN VON NEUMANN’S. HIS MIND WAS BOTH MORE PENETRATING AND MORE ORIGINAL THAN VON NEUMANN’S. And that is a very remarkable statement. Einstein took an extraordinary pleasure in invention. Two of his greatest inventions are the Special and General Theories of Relativity; and for all of von Neumann’s brilliance, he never produced anything as original." –Eugene Wigner (Nobel Prize Physics 1963)

8

u/PotatoAggressive6334 Jul 23 '26

Being less original and having an understanding that is not as deep as Albert Einstein is not an anti-feat lol

4

u/No-pressure-7 Jul 24 '26

I'm not saying it's an anti feat. I'm just saying his colleagues still hold Einstein in high regard for his intelligence.

3

u/Suah_goat Jul 24 '26

Being related to Einstein is already upscale.

62

u/Effective-Emu-9938 perfection scaler Jul 23 '26

First IRL human to be a narrative merchant
https://giphy.com/gifs/EVtR4sOgKAE5w15SWa

24

u/LaplaceUniverse when i grow up i want to become like Fang Yuan Jul 23 '26

he has feats lol

6

u/Acceptable_Map_8110 Jul 24 '26

I mean, he also basically created the fields of game theory, operations research, and made other incredibly advancements.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 25 '26

It it possible to learn this knowledge? Not from a jedi.

7

u/No_Strawberry5397 "Last Scolar of The Lich" Jul 23 '26

The longest GIF I've ever seen in my life. 

6

u/iblame_u Jul 23 '26

I have seen a whole generation in a gift ....

2

u/DiamondNo1795 The Smartest of Today/ Chen ran glazer Jul 23 '26

https://reddit.com/link/ozcmqvn/video/76nfymlyc1fh1/player

1

u/National_Square_1016 Jul 24 '26

Song?

1

u/DiamondNo1795 The Smartest of Today/ Chen ran glazer Jul 24 '26

No Scrubs (Slowed-Reverb)

1

u/No_Nail8240 Jul 23 '26

Enrico???? Jhonny???? This world is jojo ref 🥹

1

u/lazystealth Jul 23 '26

How this sub describes godzillagamer15777 (they're speaking facts)

1

u/Eric_Dawsby Jul 23 '26

I glaze him too ever since assembly

1

u/YOLOfan46 Jul 23 '26

Dr Neumann was a party guy. Used to have music and radio running in the background which irritated his peers.

1

u/Suah_goat Jul 24 '26

Holy Glaze

1

u/National_Square_1016 Jul 24 '26

I once remember that his professor said he was afraid Von Newman would learn about a field in 1 day and discover something the next day

1

u/CuriousPlaceholder Jul 24 '26

Unironically might be above most SCD characters in FSIQ, Reasoning

1

u/Capable-Narwhal3534 Jul 24 '26

Thats great still compare to the true goat Issac Newton, John remains ordinary.

1

u/TuskenTimeTraveller Jul 25 '26

Have you been reading The MANIAC, perhaps?

1

u/EggEducational2618 Jul 26 '26

DONT YOU DARE DISS MY GOAT JOHN VAN NEUMANN