NancyLebovitz comments on Einstein's Superpowers - Less Wrong

30 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 30 May 2008 06:40AM

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Comment author: NancyLebovitz 13 October 2012 06:14:41PM 1 point [-]

My own ruminations on genius have led me to suppose that one mistake which people of the very highest intelligence may make, is to underestimate their own exceptionality; for example, to adopt theories of human potential which are excessively optimistic regarding the capabilities of other people.

I believe this isn't just a mistake made by people of the very highest intelligence.

Instead, people are very apt to generalize from themselves, and if they see someone failing at something which comes easily to them, they're very apt to think that the other person is faking or not trying hard enough.