Related Topics: Human Society; More Human Rights For More Human Beings
What are geniuses?
They are not, at least as I am using the term, some kind of rare exotic humans. They are also not people who happen to do well on a particular kind of meaningless brain test.
They are – humans who make a unique and important contribution to any one of these areas:
the advancement of human knowledge, technology, society, communication, etc.
the understanding of the human condition
art, literature, etc.
human beings who contribute something significant which it seems no one else would've been able to do.
Now all humans are unique. In fact all humans are potential geniuses.
Albert Einstein, who should know something about genius,
said "everybody is a genious. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid".
What the man is telling us is that every human brain is unique.
We are like snowflakes, each one different, each one special.
Everyone except identical twins is born with a genetically unique brain.
But that's just the starting point, our brains start evolving in the womb and continue until death.
Each one just keeps getting more and more special.
A genius is just the right snowflake; at the right place; at the right time in human history.
A unique brain is the starting point.
But genius will only manifest itself
1) if that brain occurs in the right place --- location in geography and location and time
2) if that brain has the right platform to stand on, the training, including learning from past geniuses.
And 3) if that brain has the right positioning, the means to communicate and an audience who will listen.
Every brain is a genius.
But that genius is only realized if it finds itself with the right place, platform, and positioning.
With that in mind, let's think about some examples of genius.
Confucius, Leonardo DaVinci,
Louis Armstrong, Sigmund Freud,
Adolf Hitler – – – even Donald Trump.
Unique brain, place, platform, positioning – – – you get the idea.
And of course the majority of geniuses go unrealized. Place, platform and positioning can be tricky.
William Shakespeare's genius would not have been realized had he not left Stratfford
and been fortunate enough to arrive in London at a time when there was a thriving theater scene and a reasonably well-educated audience to appreciate his work.
Albert Einstein was a German Jew. What if he had been born 40 years later? Wrong place!
No theory of relativity.
Prejudice and exclusionism always limit the potential for realized geniuses.
Now although I've mentioned some contrary examples, most geniuses are good for society.
They advance civilization.
We would like to have as many as possible.
So how might we go about that?
Here's a suggestion:
let's provide an educational experience which gives geniuses the best chance of emerging and finding their special niche.
What happens between birth and age 20 makes all the difference.
I do have some suggestions about how to improve our education system. Some are in my video “Education; Fund It, Fix It, Make It Fair”.
It is important that we provide genius-building educational opportunities to as many people as possible.
Think of how many unrealized geniuses have withered for a lack of education.
A perfect example of limitations on education is sexism.
Have you noticed that in the list of geniuses I mentioned there were no women?
That is not because women are less likely to be geniuses, but simply because we have designed society in such a way as to limit the realization of a woman geniuses.
Indeed, some like Abigail Adams and Marie Curie could only have their geniuses realized because they happen to have unique husbands.
Another example of limitations which society places on the development of geniuses is the existence of aristocracies. I have much to say about that another videos, including the one called "aristocracies are anti-American".
But another limitation which may not be as readily apparent is that geniuses rarely emerge among a population whose basic human needs are not met.
The myth of the starving artist is greatly over-rated.
All humans, but especially children need to have their physiological needs met before they are able to develop their minds properly.
We all need food, clothing, clean air and water, shelter, safety, a sense of belonging, and self-esteem.
To the degree that, for any in our society, those needs are not met we are wasting potential geniuses.
What we are talking about here are human rights. And if you have seen any of my other videos, you must be aware of my contention that "more human rights for more human beings" is the single most important element in the success of the United States and the hope of humanity.
It is a super-charger on the engine of civilization.
In a society where basic needs are met and human rights are protected, geniuses and entrepreneurs proliferate.
Young people with new ideas have resources to try them out. Many fail, but it is a learning experience and they are not destroyed by that failure.
And some succeed spectacularly.
Potential geniuses are being born every minute, all over the world.
We need to start getting more of them realized.
Every human brain is unique and a potential genius.
All it needs is education which encourages and develops its unique talent,
Place, Platform, Positioning,
and a society in which basic human needs are met and human rights are protected.
Let's grow more geniuses!