Watching his physics lectures on #YouTube, I really wish I could have met Richard Feynman. Theoretical physicist, recreational safe cracker, Nobel Prize winner, and bongo drums player. And an absolutely wonderful lecturer. It's so marvelous that his lectures have survived and are available on YouTube. Right now I'm watching the ones recorded at Cornell in 1964. - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3mhkYbznBk
@lauren Oh, and yes, as you might guess, I've known a number of people I call "scary smart". All of them had significant flaws or "mental conditions" except one.
To be clear, my term "scary smart" isn't a bad thing. I love not being the smartest person in the room.
@shuttersparks Any time I suspect that I might be the smartest person in the room, I'm terrified.
@lauren Hah. I'm used to it. Doesn't bother me. But it's not fun or interesting. It's *much* more fun to hang out with someone who knows stuff you don't, who makes one of your eyebrows go up, Spock style, until you "get it".
One of my favorites I've worked with is Dr. Norman Neidell. He's the "grand old man" of synthetic aperture seismic imaging. He's the best explainer I've ever met. He can stand at a whiteboard and take the most brain busting mathy problems, and give you a crystal clear understanding. Amazing. I love people like that.
@shuttersparks I've known just a few people like that during my life. Extremely challenging. Sometimes they are also flawed in some significant way, being merely human.