Raymond's point about people at the top not needing to to self-promote is something I've heard described many times before. I would call it trite, actually, but my googling is failing me so I can't find examples to back that up.
One very eloquent description I've seen is "The luxury of humility." Basically, a guy like Einstein had the luxury to declare himself horrible at math (for example) because his reputation as a physicist and mathematician was so solid that nothing he said could possibly dent it. Instead, any self-deprecation he did would simply bolster his reputation for humility.
An unproven physicist, on the other hand, would not be advised to mimic Einstein in declaring himself bad at math because people would be more likely to take it seriously and dismiss his work as probably containing errors.
That said, Eric Raymond used to annoy me, then he became this sort of perversely amusing thing (about the time ELER was running). Now I have to say that I can't read this kind of stuff without feeling sorry for him. He's a textbook example, or at least his writing is, of false bravado vainly trying to mask almost limitless amounts of insecurity.
One very eloquent description I've seen is "The luxury of humility." Basically, a guy like Einstein had the luxury to declare himself horrible at math (for example) because his reputation as a physicist and mathematician was so solid that nothing he said could possibly dent it. Instead, any self-deprecation he did would simply bolster his reputation for humility.
An unproven physicist, on the other hand, would not be advised to mimic Einstein in declaring himself bad at math because people would be more likely to take it seriously and dismiss his work as probably containing errors.
That said, Eric Raymond used to annoy me, then he became this sort of perversely amusing thing (about the time ELER was running). Now I have to say that I can't read this kind of stuff without feeling sorry for him. He's a textbook example, or at least his writing is, of false bravado vainly trying to mask almost limitless amounts of insecurity.