For a while now I’ve been quite active on a platform called Quora
It’s basically an online Q and A forum
You select subjects you are knowledgeable about and offer to answer questions on those subjects
Every day you get a digest of some the previous day’s popular questions and answers
I discovered the other day that its incredible who takes part in it
I answered a question on music which asked who I would nominate as having achieved genius level of mastery with their chosen instrument and why.
I nominated guitar wizard Steve Vai who definitely fits that bill. But……
I also explained that I didn’t particularly like his music.
If you don’t know who he is that’s because he basically creates instrumental guitar music.
He is astoundingly technical, super flashy and fast as lightning - among other things.
Basically he is jaw droppingly good
But as I said in my answer - I can’t listen to much of it and sort of feel that (for me) its sometimes more about dexterity than music - or words to that effect
I even mentioned that some years ago I won free tickets to one of his gigs and left half way through.
Late that day I got a reply
From Steve Vai!!!
I was nervous about reading it I must admit
Yes I’d voted him as a bona fide genius but had also been critical about his music
In fact his reply was incredibly humble, detailed and generous
He even thanked me for my comments and sincerity and said that he will find them very useful
Wow!
This is another example of just how far reaching, world shrinking and straight out incredible the Internet is
Particularly when it comes to online communities like Quora
The age when super successful, mega talented people live in Ivory towers and consider themselves better than their fans, students and followers is fading fast
This little experience reminded me of when I first met the founders of SFM at a momentum day event London
They knew my name, were happy to chat and were in no way “up themselves” at all
A far cry from the old style “Gurus” you might assume multi millionaire internet geniuses to be
Proves another point - never assume
Cheers!
Dave
