"Bret Ludwig" wrote in message
oups.com...

Bret Ludwig wrote:
snip
The extreme of this phenomenon is the very well-known "idiot savant".
Less egregious examples are often reffered to as "mattoids" (cf.
Oliver,R.)

I found your reference online:
http://www.revilo-oliver.com/rpo/His...d_Biology.html
It is a very interesting article, but Oliver undermines his influence with
me, at least, with the following statement:

"Both were, in their judgement of social and political problems, virtually
morons. Merely a deficiency of practical common sense, you say? Yes, no
doubt, but both acted on the basis of that deficiency and used their
intellectual powers to exert a highly pernicious influence. One need not
underestimate either the beauty of Shelley's poems or the importance of the
two theories of relativity to conclude that the world would be better off,
had neither man existed."

I am not familiar with the politics of Shelly, but as far as Einstein is
concerned, I fail to see what he did in the social sphere that deserves
condemnation. He was a womanizer, and hardly a faultless person, but I am
unaware of a "pernicious influence" such as he mentions. He also downplays
Einstein's place in modern physics. As someone familiar with Einstein's
work, I take issue with this. Einstein saw what Lorentz did not; he saw what
nobody before him could see, and began the Thirty Golden Years of physics.

Why did Oliver omit the obvious example of Ezra Pound, a great poet and
writer, antisemite, nazi, and hater, who ended his life in a cage in a
mental institution?

Although I conclude nothing with respect to "Andre Jute", I accept the
relevance of the reference with respect to the question.