[моё] Boring People

They say the writer today talked with an exceedingly boring person. One would think, what could you talk about with such a person? But they were wrong. We talked about fantasy. 

I have heard that this holds true in many fields, also in mathematics and in music. I will give examples from these two areas that are close to me.

In mathematics this is called the ability to think in abstractions. If a child cannot combine “2 bananas” and “3 pears” and says that they are different things, then it is unlikely that a talented mathematician will emerge from them, because they find it difficult to abstract data and reason in general categories. And the more complex the field of mathematics, the more abstract and difficult it becomes.

The same applies in music. Almost all good musicians I know personally listen to a very diverse range of music, really very diverse, even though they write their own material. How can one move away from data and diversify one’s creativity if you cannot listen to or perceive other genres?

In cinema I often make concessions: there are many different genres, works from different years that have truly surprised me. Although based on release date or genre I would not have thought of such.