dabent, you should post the Wired piece separately -- it's worth reading just for the account of the metrics Galenson used to decide on the "value" of art produced by artists, poets, etc. at different points in their lives (it was not just the prices of the different pieces, but their citations in textbooks, a la Google's PageRank algorithm).

I would, but it was submitted less than a month ago here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1678415

It really is a good article and worth the read.

Fitzgerald died at 44, Mozart at 35 so neither lived long enough to get into the old group.

A very relevant book on this aspect is: http://www.amazon.com/Truth-Beauty-Aesthetics-Motivations-Sc...

The author compares and contrasts the differences between early blossoming and late blossoming intellects. The science/math geniuses belong usually to the former and the artists to the latter. Perhaps, programming is more art than we have been led to believe.