Yes, there has been nice geniuses (ie. people with extreme talent), Mozart was for example a good person. Da Vinci (if a little sycophantic when young) was not unhinged at all nor abusive and was appreciated.

But since romantism we have built this image of the genius as necessarily abusive.

I’m sure abusive genius are very visible (by definition?) and that abusive people tend to monopolize more ressources too. (Like these tenured professors that use their students to advance their own career)

▲

n4r9 3 days ago | parent [-]

Einstein, Euler, and Darwin were also nice people by many accounts.

▲

boringg 3 days ago | parent [-]

I think you guys shouldn't be comparing “geniuses” because i don't think thats the forcing function here (ie IQ and ability).

The forcing function is having so much responsibility and stress from running so many companies. You have no extra bandwidth for anything. All your time is spent.

So maybe look at comparable people with insane schedules/workloads/very high pressure situations.

▲

n4r9 3 days ago | parent [-]

Fair. With Elon it feels like there's an obsessiveness that drives him to take on so much responsibility. And as you say, that can affect what he says publicly.

	▲	boringg 2 days ago \| parent [-]
		True -- also I wouldn't say Elon is a genius. I feel thats a term for people who solve deep intractable physics/math problems. Elon's admirable attributes are that he is an insane capital allocator, has a very acute engineering mind (rare for leadership), curious mind, sees the future paths, dedicated focus and is an unabashed salesman of his products and philosophy (maybe this one isn't as admirable but its critical to his success).