Is Magnus Carlsen Smarter than Einstein?
I originally answered this question some years ago on Quora: Click this link.
Carlsen is the chess champion of the world. He has been that for a number of years now. He has successfully fended off challenges from Anand and Karjakin. In November, he will have another title defense against Caruana. Of course, Anand, Karjakin, and Caruana are geniuses. And, Carlsen is higher rated than them all, which makes him the favorite against Caruana in November. So, obviously, Carlsen is a genius, and he is known as The Mozart of Chess.
But, Carlsen only has a high school education. Why would he get a college education for a six figure yearly salary when he can easily eclipse that with his large payday tournaments. He is also a good looking chap and models also for a living. So, he has no need to learn a complex discipline like engineering to earn a good living. So, his high school education is not admissible as evidence against his intelligence.
Einstein is the poster boy for intelligence the world over. His image on anything says intelligence. His equation E=mc² is a justly famous equation that tells us energy and mass are equivalent. He wrote ground breaking papers in physics — one of which won him the Nobel prize.
Einstein would conduct these “thought experiments” with people traveling at speeds of light…
