I continue reading Kai-Fu Lee's AI Superpowers, and continue to find questionable things.
Today's reading included this bit about Enrico Fermi:
Fermi and the Manhattan Project embodied an age of discovery that rewarded quality over quantity in expertise. In nuclear physics, the 1930s and 1940s were an age of fundamental breakthroughs, and when it came to making those breakthroughs, one Enrico Fermi was worth thousands of less brilliant physicists. American leadership in this era was built in large part on attracting geniuses like Fermi: men and women who could singlehandedly tip the scales of scientific power.
At this point, a former reader of this book, who has scrawled copious notes in the margins, poses this question to himself:
My answer to him is the same answer I'd give myself: Probably nowhere, dude. Because the idea of the lone genius is just that, an idea that doesn't really exist.
Particularly on the part of Enrico Fermi.
The following is from an article by David Schwartz:
His student and colleague from his days in Rome, Edoardo Amaldi, described it this way: “I would say that his ability to drag others into work, with great intensity, for many hours, was one of his characteristics. He did it with us in Rome, then he went to Columbia University in New York and created a new group in Columbia; he went to Chicago and created another group for the simple reason that his role was that of general counsel; back in Chicago he created yet another group. Wherever he went he had this great influence on the people around him.”
Later on in the same article, this:
Fermi started collaborating early in life. As a child, he began to develop a passion for science working alongside his brother Giulio, who died unexpectedly when Enrico was just 13 years old. Together they pursued boyhood enthusiasms like making model airplanes and building electric motors. After Giulio’s tragic death, Enrico turned to his friend, Enrico Persico, and continued his exploration of the scientific world.
Fermi may have been the one to have ideas come together, but it was through long exploration which involved flashes of insight amid a lot of cooperation and collaboration.
The idea of the lone genius is something that Silicon Valley loves, and it seems to have infected other silicon areas worldwide. I'm confident that even in places where we suspect there was a lone genius at work, there were others there behind the curtains helping, many in significant ways. The lone genius makes for good storytelling and marketing, but is a lie.
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