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Were Albert Einstein and Leonardo da Vinci born brilliant or did they acquire their intelligence through effort? No one knows for sure, but telling people the latter – that hard work trumps genes – causes instant changes in the brain and may make them more willing to strive for success, indicates a new study from Michigan State University.
The findings suggest the human brain is more receptive to the message that intelligence comes from the environment, regardless of whether it’s true. And this simple message, said lead investigator Hans Schroder, may ultimately prompt us to work harder.
http://msutoday.msu.edu/news/2014/nature-or-nurture-its-all-about-the-message/
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Now KEN and BARBIE are PERMANENTLY ADDICTED to MIND-ALTERING DRUGS ...
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Thexalon on Monday September 08 2014, @02:39PM
My guess on this is that scientists with the same funding without a war going on would have done roughly the same work as scientists who did have a war hanging over their heads. For example, Einstein's most important work happened before the war, von Braun did about as much rocketry research after WW II as during it, Turing did a great deal of important work both before and after the war, and so forth. There's a good chance that the effect of the war was diverting scientists from what they wanted to work on towards what would help with the war effort.
If you want to maximize scientific output, the formula for doing that appears to be:
1. Set up a nice, comfortable building or set of buildings.
2. Hire a bunch of really smart people to work in that building.
3. Place minimal limits on what those people can do with their time.
4. To the degree possible, give them the equipment they're asking for.
That's the formula used at the Library of Alexandria, the Baghdad House of Wisdom, Oxford University, and lots of other very successful research institutions. It really works - those smart people talking to each other and trying things and sharing ideas and messing around creates really useful results. You're trying to create an environment where the introduction is: "Here is your office and laboratory. The supply closet is here - if you can't find what you need, ask Bill in purchasing. The cafeteria is here - most of your colleagues head down there for lunch between 11:30 and 1. Any questions? Alright, get to work!"
The problem is that the sort of people who want to control others can't stand the fact that they'll end up paying and supplying people to sit around trying to make Space Wars work on an old PDP-10. Because that can't possibly lead to anything useful, at least in the short term.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.