But aloofness usually requires the fascination for a topic or subject, which none of you here mention. And what is fascination? Can that be explained by some conscious mechanism (or can you push yourself to acquire it, without being ridiculous and miserable)? I tend to think that fascination, and as a consequence also creativity and genius to some extent do relate to innate preferences and capabilities. Of course, hard work is crucial, but I believe there is talent as well.

I have always been struck by this from G Spencer Brown in “Laws of Form” which is about being aloof – but in the real world.

“To arrive at the simplest truth, as Newton knew and practiced, requires years of contemplation. Not activity. Not reasoning. Not calculating. Not busy behaviour of any kind. Not reading. Not talking. Not making an effort. Not thinking. Simply bearing in mind what it is one needs to know. And yet those with the courage to tread this path to real discovery are not only offered practically no guidance on how to do so, they are actively discouraged and have to set about it in secret, pretending meanwhile to be diligently engaged in the frantic diversions and to conform with the deadening personal opinions which are continually being thrust upon them.”

How would I answer? “Not like me,” probably. No network of peers, not enough productivity:

I think aloofness is the state I naturally tend towards, and a state of emotional detachment I seek. Sometimes, when I get into good community, it seems that there would be creative ideas in all the aloofness, in learning about different fields and not caring about the boundaries (or rather, caring about crossing them).
But, there are social factors to creativity: your idea is not creative per se, but only when there is a community recognizing it as creative, as valuable. You can be Da Vinci, but if people think your Mona Lisa just has crooked teeth, tough luck. If you get caught between fields, you can develop creative ideas, and still not find a way of getting anywhere with them.
Is an idea that goes unnoticed really creative?

It also takes productivity, now more than ever: if you don’t develop your ideas, at least into papers, possibly into things and practices (and then, explain said practices well), you can be as creative as you want – it is just thoughts stuck in your head, not really anything that is created.
(Boston Consulting Group ran advertisements stating that “thinking is acting,” but I think I have to disagree.)

So, I think what it takes is peers, productivity – but yes, also the aloofness to stand outside of petty babble about proper behavior.