>Sure, he did some interesting work a long time ago, before he got weird.
He was weird then too. That's why he did such interesting work. His work, combined with a lack of fame at that time, just kept the weird from showing through.
I suspect that genius is made up almost, but not quite, entirely of crazy.
Rather, genius is the subset of crazy recognized by society as useful. The moment of recognition is the point at which it becomes venerated instead of derided.
He was weird then too. That's why he did such interesting work. His work, combined with a lack of fame at that time, just kept the weird from showing through.
I suspect that genius is made up almost, but not quite, entirely of crazy.