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天才的诅咒（2000）
Curse Of The Gifted (2000)
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导读
这是 ESR（Eric S. Raymond）2000 年在 Linux 内核邮件列表上的一篇帖子，提出“天赋的诅咒”：聪明人靠天赋就能轻松应付学业，因此从未学会刻苦和系统性的学习方法，等遇到真正复杂的问题时反而吃亏。文中以 Linus Torvalds 为例，讨论天赋型程序员如何突破这一瓶颈。
为什么经久不衰：它揭示了一个普遍而隐蔽的成长陷阱——靠聪明绕过基本功终会撞墙，对任何阶段的开发者和学习者都有警示意义。
HN 评论精选
以亲身经历印证：靠心算和天赋绕过基本功，最终会在复杂度面前崩塌。
我离 Eric 或 Linus 的水平差得远，但“天赋的诅咒”是真实存在的。幸运的是我没聪明到能一直靠它吃老本，但在数学和解题上，我靠它撑到了高中。我从没按“标准步骤”学过代数，因为不需要——心算就能出答案，还觉得那些老老实实写步骤的同学是笨蛋。我以为自己天生懂数学，别人低我一等。但随着难度增加，我掉队了：到微积分时我还在心算，而复杂度已经超出我能想象的范围，我从未真正学会在纸上推导。
austenallred查看英文原文
I am miles away from Eric or Linus, but the "curse of the gifted" is very real. Thankfully I wasn't smart or gifted enough that I could ride it for long, but when it comes to math and problem-solving I rode it well into my high school years. I never learned to do algebra "by the book," because I didn't need to. Or maybe because I wasn't smart enough to. The math teacher would teach "3x + 6 = 9." Basic algebraic problem-solving says you subtract the 6 from both sides, then divide by 3. So "3x = 3" then "x = 1." Easy. But I learned pretty early on that I could do it in my head. It was a little bit challenging, but then I wouldn't have to waste the time of writing it out, and I wasn't handicapped like all of those suckers who had to go through the motions no matter how simple the problem was. If the teacher wrote "x + 1 = 6" I didn't have to subtract 1 from each side, I just thought about it logically and knew the answer. Of course, the math got more complex, but I was good enough at doing it in my head that, at least for a long time, it never really mattered. I thought it was because I just "got" math, and the other kids were on a lower level. But as the math grew in complexity, I fell behind. By the time we reached Calculus I was still doing most of it in my head, as I had never really learned to write it out on paper. And the complexity of the math outgrew my capacity to visualize. I showed up to my AP calculus test without a calculator, partially because I was forgetful and partly for fun, and it wasn't until I got my score back (a failing 2 of 5) that it finally hit me: I was actually behind. In school. I was cocky enough that this was a slap in the face. I had to start from scratch, and I'm still not sure if I've made up for a lot of that. I ended up in more creative fields, mostly because I felt inferior to those who had learned the rules and not been cocky douchebags like I had been in the beginning. This really sucks to write. I frequently wonder what could have been.
提供原帖语境，并指出 ESR 泛泛而谈、Linus 具体务实，两者风格高下立判。
补充背景：这是 2000 年 lkml 上的原帖。注意没有人回复 Eric，讨论在别处继续。Eric 用的是关于年龄和经验的模糊概括，而 Linus 写的是他做内核的具体经验——前者适合传播，后者才真正有效。
nswanberg查看英文原文
For those curious about the context: https://lkml.org/lkml/2000/8/23/97 Note that noone replied to Eric and the thread continued on. Also go back and read some of Linus's posts before this. Eric writes using vague generalizations about age and experience; Linus writes with specifics about his experience with the kernel. The former style makes for popularly read posts but the latter seems much more effective. Also, compare this message from Linus earlier in that thread https://lkml.org/lkml/2000/8/22/52 with a post of his from yesterday: https://lkml.org/lkml/2014/2/10/575, especially regarding abstraction.
把诅咒延伸到职场：天赋型的人在僵化的公司环境里尤其痛苦，创业可能是出路。
奇怪没人提到这个诅咒的终局：进入典型的公司工作。固定作息、被指定的产品和流程、微观管理和随意的问责，一切都与你（靠天赋自由发挥）的天性格格不入，而且这不是“X 年计划”，而是设计成无止境的。创业不一定适合所有人，但如果你能“笨”到敢尝试、又“聪明”到能做成，总好过在公司里慢性死亡。
OldSchool查看英文原文
I'm surprised nobody's mentioned this curse's endgame: getting a typical corporate job. Everything about it is against your nature: fixed schedule, dictated product and process, micro management and arbitrary accountability compared to the creative freedom of your life when delivering academic performance on a timescale of weeks or months was your only responsibility. Worse still, it's not an "X year work program," it's designed to be endless. Not that an entrepreneurial career is for everyone, but if you can be dumb enough to try and smart enough to make it work at a sustainable scale, it sure beats a guaranteed slow corporate death.
指出 Linus 在此帖中扮演规劝者的角色，与他平日的犀利风格反差有趣。
看到 Linus 站在“自律”这一边挺奇怪的，和他自己稍显刻薄的风格形成鲜明对比。
callmevlad查看英文原文
It's weird to see Linus on the other side of being disciplined, and a pretty stark contrast to his own slightly more abrasive style. For example: https://lkml.org/lkml/2012/12/23/75
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