This has to be the smartest person I have ever seen in terms of precocity. I knew his background was exceptional but at 13 he was essential an expert at physics. damn impressive. Imagine if he was born in the 2000s and having access to the internet and cheap computing. Up there with Von Nuemann..another one.
I think that underestimates the massive amount of distractions a person had to deal with being born in 2000.
I can remember being bored out of my mind and so practicing Bach on guitar for hours in 1990. There is just no way I would have done that in 2015. That feeling was gone forever the first time my modem connected to the internet.
It wouldn't be shocking that the intellectual giants of old became so because they had nothing much else to do but read and think.
I do put Wolfram in the same league as Von Nuemann in terms of not being ashamed to admit they are beyond me. I can distinctly remember getting New Kind of Science from the library, getting home and then quickly realizing there is no chance in hell I can read a 1000 pages of this.
