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/lit/ - Literature

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13160289 No.13160289 [Reply] [Original]

Are there any living polymath? Is it even possible to be a polymath in today's world of specialisation, entertainment and STEM vs humanities memeing?

>> No.13160331

You could pretend to be a polymath while actually being a dilettante to people who know nothing about anything, but being an actual polymath is impossible. Todays geniuses (who are way smarter than the geniuses of the previous ages) spend their entire lives on one field to achieve significant progress in them.

>> No.13160341

i guess the closest is STEM professors who actually read? i don't think anybody in the humanities can STEM

>> No.13160374

>>13160331
Are you saying "smarter" in terms of knowledge or liquid intelligence?

>> No.13160439
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13160439

>>13160289
Stanislaw Lem was pretty close, died in 2006. He studied medicine, wrote novels, philosophical treatises and essays and was as broad a polymath as one can expect in this day and age.

>> No.13160454

>>13160374
Both knowledge and liquid intelligence.

>> No.13160455

>>13160439
Wow, i've never heard of him.

>> No.13160471
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13160471

>>13160331
>who are way smarter than the geniuses of the previous ages

>> No.13160476
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13160476

>>13160331
>Todays geniuses (who are way smarter than the geniuses of the previous ages)
WRONG

>> No.13160478

>>13160331
Feels bad man, I just want to learn it all but ultimately cant

>> No.13160482

>>13160455
Yes, it's a shame he's not very well known, most people, if they've even heard of him, only know 'Solaris' (which is good but not great scifi novel) and subsequently write him off as scifi YA tier shit. Read some of his work, the best are those that use the dressing and narrational means of scifi novels as a trojan horse to indtroduce philosophy by to a broader audience, not too dissimilar to dialogues by Plato. Read 'An absolute vacuum' and 'Golem XIV'

>> No.13160559

>>13160471
>>13160476
If you knew any math that would be obvious to you.

>> No.13160568

>>13160559
I have a degree in it. Are you claiming terence tao is blatantly smarter than gauss?

>> No.13160578

>>13160568
What kind of degree? Terence Tao maybe not, but people like Milnor, Deligne, Serre are definitely comparable.

>> No.13160594

>>13160568
Shelah is probably smarter than Gauss desu

>> No.13160622
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13160622

>>13160578
Undergrad. I'm about done with a masters. I'm not claiming Gauss is clearly smarter than anyone today because I recognize lower hanging fruit. But claiming current guys are way smarter requires corroboration.

>>13160594
I remember hearing in a model theory class about him having batshit productivity but again I don't know how they'd be compared.

>> No.13161134

>>13160455
hes more popular in poland, but just by those who read

>> No.13161731

>>13160559
>If you knew any math that would be obvious to you.
Science is dead faggot
>muh math is muh queen of science

>> No.13162957

Robert Anton Wilson was a really eclectic modern thinker. Underrated because he’s “weird” and (admittedly) schlocky at times.

>> No.13163019
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13163019

>>13160622
>>13160471