Genius vs. Expertise
genius is about caring about something more than a reasonable person cares about anything; actualized genius is the product of obsessive patterns of thought, coupled with raw intellectual power, carried through a lifetime.
On Genius, Intellect, and Obsession
Genius has far less to do with your genetics and much more to do with your habits. Stepping into the person you’ve always imagined you could be is a trained result—available to anyone willing to open themselves up, do the work and run the practices that make magic real.
Robin Sharma • The Everyday Hero Manifesto: Activate Your Positivity, Maximize Your Productivity, Serve The World
So I think efforts like Hoel’s to find the One Thing That Went Wrong in producing geniuses are doomed to fail. But even if I’m wrong, aristocratic tutoring isn’t that One Thing: there are too many counterexamples.
Scott Alexander (slatestarcodex) • Contra Hoel On Aristocratic Tutoring
For a summary of the research on particular types of experts, see Andre Didierjean and Gobet Fernand, “Sherlock Holmes—An Expert’s View of Expertise,” British Journal of Psychology 99 (2008): 109.