Heather Berlin on the Link Between Genius and Disorder

As part of Big Think's partnership with 92Y's Seven Days of Genius series, New York Times columnist Carl Zimmer asks Heather Berlin about the research that illuminates our understanding of genius. There's a societal conflation between madness and genius that Berlin says is unnecessary, yet there is truth in that highly successful, creative people may benefit from the byproducts of disorders like OCD. She also recalls what she learned from viewing Einstein's brain.
This is the sixth video in an exclusive video series of today’s brightest minds exploring the theory of genius. Exclusive videos will be posted daily on throughout 92nd Street Y’s second annual 7 Days of Genius Festival: Venture into the Extraordinary, running March 1 to March 8, 2015 ().
Follow the conversation via #7DaysOfGenius
Exclusive interviews with thought leaders, filmed at YouTube Space New York studios (), include:
- Arianna Huffington, Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief, Huffington Post and Maria Konnikova, Writer and Journalist, discussing the science of mindfulness.
- Bill Nye, Science Educator, Comedian, Writer and Actor, and Jake Roper, Broadcast Journalist, exploring how to nurture future geniuses.
- Heather Berlin, Neuroscientist, and Carl Zimmer, Science Writer and Blogger, examining neuroscience and genius; and
- Joy Hirsch, professor of Psychiatry and Neurobiology, Yale School of Medicine, and Carl Zimmer discussing creativity and the brain.
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Directed / Produced by Jonathan Fowler and Elizabeth Rodd