Tao identified himself as a 'fox' who knows a bit about many things rather than a 'hedgehog' who knows one thing deeply, and attributes this to childhood obsessive-compulsiveness where he feels compelled to understand tricks and methods used by others, even across unrelated domains.
factualpending
Speaker
Terence TaoEvidence Quote
“I've always had a little bit of an obsessive streak. If there's something I read about which I feel like I have the capability to understand, but I don't understand why it works and there's some magic in it... It bugs me that someone else can do something I think I can do, but I can't.”
Created: 8/12/2026, 6:05:48 PM
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