do you think geniuses are born or made?

VERY SO often, we hear of them - calculating prodigies. These are the people who can quickly and accurately solve complex mathematical calculations. Until recently, we had our own Lilavathi Devi who was famous for her arithmetical feats. Now, France is all-agog about a young man called Rudiger Gamm who has been wowing TV audiences there with his astounding ability to calculate the fifth root of a ten-digit number within a few seconds. Are these people geniuses? Or are they savants, meaning those who are profound and learned in one particular area or field but ordinary (or even unimpressive) in others? How did they get their abilities? How does one define a genius? Can any one attain such proficiency? These questions are being addressed today in several laboratories of cognitive psychology around the world. Some are studying how so many taxi drivers of the greater London area are able to store and retrieve enormous amount of data about the route maps and locations of the lanes and bylanes of the sprawling city. (Incidentally this ability may not be limited to cabdrivers in London alone; look at some of the taxi or scooter rickshaw drivers of Delhi or Chennai). Some others are studying musical prodigies and whether listening to music expands the capabilities of our minds. Yet others look at chess players and have attempted to train people into becoming chess champions. A success story in this case is that of Miss Judith Polgar and her two sisters from Hungary, who were trained by their parents to become world-class champions. Their father Dr. Laszlo Polgar has written a book on this subject entitled Bring up Genius. Such stories fly in the face of the conventional notion that a genius is born and not made. They suggest that deliberate practice can aid in making a genius.Thomas Alva Edison said it succinctly - "1 per cent inspiration and 99 per cent perspiration". So, is it that geniuses do not just spring from the womb but need to be made, prepared, processed? Put another way, can any one with appropriate talent be made into a genius?

I think it's a combination of both. Their environment helps them nurture their gifts but they need to have something to build with.

genius and hardworkers are two different categories. Genius is born, it only polishes its skills by a little hard work and earning knowledge. Hardworker is made. A person who is genius will gain alot from a little work where as who isn't genius will earn less knowledge in working may be double the time the genius work for that same thing.

I dont think genius are born.How can any body be born as genius.Yes they might be smarter froma an very early age but they are not born that way. Its only the hard work of people that gives them the power to be called genius. If we all can work hard,and yes it ofcourse depends upon person to person on the amount of hard work, some little some more,we all can become genius in our field. Atleast this is what i believe. Where there is will there is way or i would say a genius.....lolz

I believe that geniuses are not born they are made! It depends on the hardwork of a person that he is gonna become genius or not! Even u can become a genius

I think it is a little bit of both.

Hmmmmmmmmm. My IQ is 172. In studying for my Associate of Arts Degree, I earned over 4.0 grade point averages (yes, straight A's turn into over a 4.0 grade point average!)...and I spent at least 3 hours study time per 1 unit of credit, per class. Also, there are methods, proven methods, of effective studying. Buckle under and give up what you consider "a life" if you desire to earn top grades in the university...it may translate to merit $cholarships later...mine did...

Both. You're born with a certain intellectual aptitude. Stimulation of the intellect is required in order to use this aptitude at its greatest potential. The type of stimulation needed isn't anything specific, and it's not at all like "training". Different people require different things in order to learn.

i think geniuses are made

I think that there is genetic stuff involved in the making of geniuses. I think they also need to put effort into learning. My son is a 3.5 - 4.0 average student. Suddenly last term he failed history. That of course squelched his Principals list aspirations. Come to find out he never put any effort into this class at all. He passed every test with 90 or higher, but a majority of the grade relied on papers, projects and homework, none of which he did at all, claiming, "I just don't like history." Too bad your graduation credits depend on your passing it, Sweetheart. Hopefully he will try harder next time.

being genius is all about hard work, but let me tell you managers are born not made.

I think the basic skill is got by birth. but if it is not maintained properly, then the skill will be lost. But when given proper coaching any skill will flourish.

I think that is a combination. You can have inherited skills, but it will be nothing if you don't evolve it. In the same way you can study hard and harder, but you'll never evolve at a superb level if you don't have inherited skills. I think a normal person have average values of inherited skills in some potentials, high levels in few, and no level in the most of it. Thats determinated how much time you have to dedicate to studies to reach a knowledge about a subject.

they are the gifted people..

Geniuses are probably born, because you know what they say: "There a tiny line between genius and insane". But what makes genius a "genius"? I think the answer is that they think differently than normal people, but insane people think also differently so sometimes it's not that easy to draw a line between insane and a genius. So if someone is born with mental diseases he/she might be the next great genius. For example Einstein was really lazy in school and always argued with maths teachers etc, but when he hardly finished the school, he became the most known genius in the world. In conclusion I think that you have to be born a genius to be one. Thanks for a nice discussion!

I believe it is a mixture of both. People are sometimes born with an incredibly high talent for a certain aspect of intelligence. I can tell you that I, personally, was gifted seemingly from birth with an incredibly high intelligence for reading, the written word, as well as words in general. I was reading the babysitters club when I was 5; J.R.R Tolkien (Lord of the Rings) and other long, complicated books when I was 7. When they took me to have tests, I was always off the chart in reading, writing and spelling. In the First Grade my reading level was that of a seventh grader, and by 5th grade I had the reading level above a 12th grader. Anyway, I'm not trying to brag, but show you that this was a gift that came to me naturally. However, I know NO maths. Even the most basic math bothers me, and I find it hard to complete even simple sums in my head. To solve sums, I need to visualise them in WORDS, not numbers. I guess I paid for my intelligence in one area by having complete lack of it in another! I think you need to be genetically predispositioned to be a genious. Intelligence, however, is highly adaptable in life!

in my opinion geniuses are born but atmosphere made him extra geniuses

ARE BORN

You're born with a certain intellectual aptitude. Stimulation of the intellect is required in order to use this aptitude at its greatest potential. The type of stimulation needed isn't anything specific, and it's not at all like "training". Different people require different things in order to learn.

first of all, the genius that your thinking of is the one that was on the dean's list in Harvard university. a real genius is someone who has more common sense than most people. a person who knows from right or wrong. a person knows he is a genius when he realizes that he cant always rely on his conscious