Eliezer Yudkowsky

And we tend to attribute people's behavior to dispositions rather than situations.

So there's this tendency to think that Einstein, even before he was famous, already had an inherent disposition to be Einstein.

a potential as rare as his fame and as magical as his deeds.

So that if you claim to have the potential to do what Einstein did, it is just the same as claiming Einstein's rank, rising far above your assigned status in the tribe.

I'm not phrasing this well, but then I'm trying to dissect a confused thought.

Einstein belongs to a separate magisterium, the sacred magisterium.

The sacred magisterium is distinct from the mundane magisterium.

You can't set out to be Einstein in the way you can set out to be a full professor or a CEO.

Only beings with divine potential can enter the sacred magisterium, and then it is only fulfilling a destiny they already have.

So if you say you want to outdo Einstein, you're claiming to already be part of the sacred magisterium.

You claim to have the same aura of destiny that Einstein was born with, like a royal birthright.

But Eliezer, you say, surely not.

Everyone can become Einstein.

You mean to say not everyone can do better than Einstein?

Um, yeah, that's what I meant.

Well, in the modern world, you may be correct.

You probably should remember that I am a transhumanist, going around looking at people thinking, you know, it just sucks that not everyone has the potential to do better than Einstein, and this seems like a fixable problem.

It colors one's attitude.

But in the modern world, yes, not everyone has the potential to be Einstein.

Still, how can I put this...