Tuesday, December 17, 2013
Part Three Reading
Still waiting on you guys to hear what you think about part two. For next class, how about we read up to page 158? That's the end of Part One in the book.
So what did you think about Chris Langan? (Here's a picture of the guy.) I found it surprising how his life was carried out. Starting out living in a trailer park, only having a year and a half of college education, being ignored by the professors, and yet he has an extremely high IQ and could be considered a genius. Do you find that he led a successful life so far? Although he says he's content at the moment, living in Missouri on a horse farm, he sounded defensive when he boasted that he was smarter than anyone he met before. I think that he seems happy, but at the same time he doesn't feel complete. Just being smart won't get anyone to one of the best jobs in existence. He still might have a chance at success, but that will require help from others and possibly a Hamburg opportunity.
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According to the stance of the book, Chris Langan does not seem to be successful. As can be discerned from the stories about the Jewish lawyers who opened powerful firms, success can be measured by the combination of adversity, fortunate opportunity, and diligence that leads to an ascension of social class. Langan barely has any of these things; honestly, all he has going for him is that he is naturally intelligent.
ReplyDeleteIt is doubtful that Langan will become successful at this point in his life, as no great opportunities are likely to present themselves to him out of the blue. Besides, being intelligent is by no means a prerequisite to success. Just ask the members of Congress! (har har har)
Although he seems happy with where he is at the moment, I agree, he doesn't display any of the signs of success. In basically all of the examples of people who had a fortunate opportunity, they found it in early in life. Once someone is at Langan's age, it's not as likely that the person will be willing to seize the opportunity. It's much harder to get 10,000 hours done when one already has a job and is settled down.
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