The subject is a bit of a misnomer, I don't hactually have a story about Erdos and coffee beans, but DH tells stories about Paul Erdos and... lunch... that are pretty... mmm... sad. My dad also told stories about a "genius" he worked with who, sent to make coffee for the group was later found trying to melt whole beans in a saucepan etc. (All damage done was apparently fixable.) DH himself is not exactly immune to failures of common sence/common wisdom.
I am not quite that type. I may not be exactly competent, but for the most part I can do what I try to do, especially if it's a real-world skill, like, say, archery or ancient production techniques <cough, cough... ahem>. DS (2 & a month) made muffins a couple of days ago while I made dinner (Me: "here, this is a half-cup measure, you need three half cups of that" DS, gleefully: "Ooooooooohhhhhhhh!"). And he already knows how to make coffee (becasue I am a machine for turning coffee into mistakes), so I don't think he's headed for those sorts of problems. But his dad does have them, and I am fully capable of obsessing about a topic to the absolute exclusion of all else, so the genetics are there. I think maybe my outcome is alittlebetter than DH's, or maybe just my starting point,who knows?
But this got me thinking about the nature of intelligence. And the fostering of skill, which seems to me to be a handmaiden of intellegence.
And... exactly which skills one should foster. It would be very embarrasing, in a philosophical kind of way, to be the parent of the next Erdos, but spend so much time on how to fry an egg that he never discovered math. On the other hand it would be somewhat embarrasing to be the parent of the next Erdos & have to keep him fed because he can't fry an egg. And on the third hand, I want grandkids... which requires a certain ammount of common sense/wisdom. On the fourth hand, it would be very embarrasing to be the parent of the next erdos, have him blowing people away with his math sence, but failing to teach him to write, so that everyone's always chassing off for pencils and papers whenever he opens his mouth, or teaching him no languages so he can only ever work with people who speak hungarian. Not that my kids speak much Hungarian. The -6 month old, especially. but anyway.
Anyone got great and earth shattering ideas on ballance/bredth/persuit of passion to the exclusion of all else/etc? What's the price of admission to life? What do you simlply have to get in there?
-Mich (who needs to start thinking about summer plans
