FT.COM/MAGAZINEOCTOBER19/202019ILLUSTRATIONBY HARRYHAYSOM 5

[email protected] @KuperSimon

biologyfromphysics,bringingwith him afresh

pairofeyes.

•Theygather insightsfrom manydifferent

realms.The bestnon-fiction bookIknowis

HannahArendt’sEichmannin Jerusalem:A

Reporton the BanalityofEvil(1963). It’sablend

of history,philosophy,her ownreportage(from

the JerusalemcourtroomatAdolfEichmann’s

trial)and–thoughthisisunstated–herpersonal

experienceasarefugeefromHitler’sGermany.

•Theydotheworktheywanttodo,notthe

worktheworldseekstoimposeonthem,even

ifthere’sacosttotheircareerorincome.In

WarrenBuffett’s terms,theyusean“innerscore-

card”(aninternalgaugeofmerit)ratherthanan

“outer scorecard” (society’sestimateof merit).

Theyhavenointerestinbecominginsiders,or

richorfamous.Theytendnottostayinlargehier-

archicalorganisations,eitherpublicorcorporate,

wheretheyhavetotoe aparty line and do work

thatbossesassignthem.

Formuch of the past century,beautifulminds

have clustered in academia,but that’schanging:

increasingly, academicsarerewarded for deep

knowledge of their discipline’s conventional

wisdom,asfieldsbecomemorehierarchical,tech-

nicalandspecialised.

•Theyhavetheimaginationtocomeupwith

ideas,butalsothehumilityandtechniqueto

testtheseagainstdata.HortensePowdermaker,

in her classicanthropologist’smemoir,Stranger

andFriend(1966),describes spendingalong

weekendinNewHampshirein1932atthesummer

houseof the anthropologistEdward Sapir.“The

remarkableflowofconversation”betweenthe

host and another houseguest,the psychoanalyst

HarryStack Sullivan, awesher.She attributesit

inpart“totheirpersonalities–eachmanseemed

to combinewithinhimselfsomethingof the

scientistandofthepoet”.Thepoethastheideas;

thescientistteststhem.

Thanksto this testing,people with beautiful

mindsin the modernworld learn that there’sno

big idea that explainseverything.EstherDuflo,

whothisweekbecametheyoungestwinnerofthe

Nobelineconomics,told me in 2015: “Big ideas

areveryseductive.Ibelieveinsmallideas.”

•Peoplewithbeautifulmindssaywhatthey

thinkistrue–not what’ssociallyappropriate,

or lucratively controversial,or conventional

wisdom,or optimistic,or beneficialto their

politicalside.(Theydon’tsticktoorthodoxy).

We canallbeabitmorelikethem,ifwetry.

I

realisedearlyinlife, even in the family

home,that thereweremuch cleverer

people than me. (Commenters,please fill

inyourownjokeshere.)ButIalsorealised

thatintelligencewasn’tstatic.

Whenpeople say“Xisbrilliant”,based

on his university degree aged21, it’sa

meaningless statement–Xmay not have

developedsincethen.Youcanmakeyour-

self moreintelligent.One wayistostudy

people with beautiful minds.Hereare

someoftheirhabits:

•Theytreat every situationas alearning

opportunity.If youfallintoconversation with

one of them,nomatterhow lowstatusorstupid

youare,theywill absorbwhat yousay.They

won’ttry to “win”the encounterby hittingyou

with jargon,titles, name-dropping or recitations

of stuff theythoughtup years before. At awed-

dingonce,IgottalkingtoanolderguynamedBob

aboutUShealthcare.Later,thebride’ssisterasked

mewhatI’dthoughtofBob.“He’s notdumb,” Isaid

generously. “No,”she agreed,“he wonthe Nobel

Prizeforeconomics.” ‘Whatwashis specialism?”

Iasked.“Healthcare,”she said. And yetRobert

Fogel had probablylistenedmoreattentively to

methanIhadtohim.

•Theycan clear their mind to seethe other

person.Peoplewhohaveagiftforseeingtheworld

usuallykeeptheir cameraspointedoutwards.

Neurotics and narcissistscan’t do that,though

theycan be great artistsof their owninterior

(thinkWoodyAllen).

•Theyoften suffer anguishedboredom in

ordinarysociallife.Theyfeelthereissomuchto

learn that there’snotime to waste on route talk,

kitchenrenovations,real-estate prices, gossip

about the local schools,orconversation-enders

(“Interesting!”“Funny!”).One friendof mine,

aftercorrectlydiagnosinghimselfashighlygifted,

was excusedbyhis wife from having to socialise

withhisbrother-in-lawanymore.

•Theyarespecialists,yetarealwaystryingto

masterotherfields.IgottoknowWalterMischel,

the psychologistwho helped changeour under-

standingof personality,inhis final years before

hediedat88.He’d sittherewithcockedhead,lis-

teningintentlytoeverythingthat everyone said.

Abovehim,onhisapartmentwalls,hungwonder-

ful paintings–his own, producedinhis eighties.

Similarly, Edward Said, the scholarwho helped

foundthe field of postcolonialstudies, was an

importantmusiccritic.

These people respectexpertise,because

theyknowfromexperience that it’s hard-won

and cannotbe generalisedfromone topic to all

others.Theyaren’tlikethe businessmanwho

goes into politics assumingthat the same rules

will applyand that he’s smarterthan the idiots

whostillhaven’tevensolvedunemployment.But

theydoseektocross-fertilisefrom one field of

expertisetoanother.FrancisCrickendedupco-

discoveringDNApartlybecausehehadcometo

‘Thesepeoplearen’tlikethe

businessmanwhogoesinto

politicsassumingthatthe

sameruleswillapply’

SIMON

KUPER

OPENINGSHOT

Whatwecan

learnfrom

peoplewith

beautifulminds