## Notes - [[Self-learning]] - [[The internet is the great equalizer]] ## Highlights Parents in many cities are obsessive about getting their kids into competitive exam high schools, but when you adjust for differences in ability, attending them [makes no difference](http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.3102/0162373716672039). The kids who just missed the cut score and the kids who just beat it have very similar underlying ability and so it should not surprise us in the least that they have very similar outcomes, despite going to very different schools. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j0ef75j43jfv41248zcjyz71)) ^gqrwvl - 💭 I guess because of the fact that these opportunities aren't restricted to schools but they are very much facilitated by them, so if you have a will there is a way to get a similar experience by reaching out on the internet to like-minded people and creating your own curriculum Certainly though, it appears that would-be-genius children had extremely abnormal amounts of one-on-one time with intellectually-inclined adults, who often introduced them to advanced topics far beyond their age. Once you begin looking, tutors pop up like mushrooms around historical geniuses. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j0efhxwpzkkhv6zy61sat30e)) - 💭 unfortunately school is the most predominant education method and there isn't as much infrastructure for self-learning yet to facilitate a coach using AI The traditional line for why essentially all intellectuals used to be aristocrats is that they were the only people with the leisure time to pursue the life of the mind. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j0efjx1xr6efhpza4bewaf13)) ^d2wzfm - 💭 not enjoying your life leads to escapism which leads to other priorities then exploring this place of growth For the decrease in genius sure does seem to coincide with the end of the aristocracy. Europe looms large in the history of geniuses, and for many reasons, but perhaps also its centuries-long tradition of tutored aristocracies. And this stretched quite late into the modern age. For instance, if I were forced at gunpoint to name the two greatest minds of the 20th century, I’d pick Bertrand Russell and John von Neumann. Is it really a coincidence that both were basically aristocrats? ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j0efkxqk5n067wfmqk1gy3bq)) Perhaps aristocratic tutoring doesn’t have to be solely for aristocrats. Recent research has shown the two-sigma effect of tutoring [using AI tutors](https://arxiv.org/abs/2203.03724) compared to traditional online courses. Perhaps in the future once could imagine personalized AI governesses and AI tutors. But by then, will we even need human geniuses? ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j0efntdwzjw452m5vc33y716)) ^eu5qj4 The unfortunate consequence is that, in a very real sense, our intellectual culture is filled with figures who are essentially mass-produced ersatz knock-offs of their aristocratic forebearers. They are of decent quality, they serve their purpose, and boy, they sure were cheap to produce. But I don’t think they have quite the same sound. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j0efsr90n9k837w16zqgjetc)) - 💭 I feel like it's also is due to the financial incentives of doing what works and not spending as much time in academia or exploring uncertain discoveries because they're not proven to be as valuable