You think if he was raised in a third-world country without access to education he would have achieved just as much?

He was raised in the intellectual hothouse of turn of the century Hungary, which also produced many other eminent mathematicians.

His parents were wealthy nobility, who could afford the best education for their children, and believed strongly in its value.

"When they were young, governesses taught von Neumann, his brothers and his cousins. Max believed that knowledge of languages in addition to Hungarian was essential, so the children were tutored in English, French, German and Italian."

He attended "one of the best schools in Budapest and was part of a brilliant education system designed for the elite."

"The Hungarian school system produced a generation noted for intellectual achievement, which included Theodore von Kármán (born 1881), George de Hevesy (born 1885), Michael Polanyi (born 1891), Leó Szilárd (born 1898), Dennis Gabor (born 1900), Eugene Wigner (born 1902), Edward Teller (born 1908), and Paul Erdős (born 1913)."

"At the age of 15, he began to study advanced calculus under the renowned analyst Gábor Szegő... He then went to the University of Göttingen on a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation to study mathematics under David Hilbert."

Most people don't get opportunities to study at one of the most elite educational institutions in the world, with world-class academics.

That is not genetics, that's opportunity.

"Look how hard parents push their kids these days, yet few even come close to his genius."

Maybe they're "pushing" in the wrong way. And is pushing what needs to be done?

What was von Neumann's parents' approach exactly? How did they interact with him and what values about learning did they instill in him when he was young?

These questions are important to answer.