What is genius? What is a genius? Do geniuses even exist? Can someone be a genius at being wise and/or at being ignorant? Maybe this pearl has some ingenious answers for you.
The purpose of this pearl is to dissect the term “genius”. When we hear the term “Genius” it makes us think in positive terms, of someone using superior intellect and creativity to do what is best for mankind. But genius also has a darker side, steeped in ignorance and chaos. In this pearl we will delve into both aspects of genius and hopefully shed some light on it.
What does “Genius" mean?
Definition of Genius: “Exhibiting extraordinary intellect and creative power".
Definition of A Genius: Someone who exhibits extraordinary intellect and creative power on a particular subject.
No individual can exhibit these powers on every subject; just the ones that he or she has many, many factual memories (knowledge) of and can intelligently use those memories to be very creative. The above definition of genius, though accurate, still needs to be more precisely defined to be fully understood. To do so we will look separately into the positive and negative aspects of genius-intellect and genius-creativity.
What is Genius-Intellect?
Definition of intellect: “1) The ability to learn and reason", and “2) the capacity for knowledge and understanding.” To be useful in our discussion, this definition also needs to be more precise—intellect is:
1) The ability to gain knowledge (memories) and have our PFC (Pre-Frontal Cortex) use that knowledge to make decisions (reason).
2) Our capacity for knowledge is the totality of our factual and false memories on a subject. Factual memories on a subject contribute to understanding and fallacious memories contribute to ignorance.
Definition of ignorance: Lacking factual knowledge about a particular subject and unwilling to learn those facts.
Intelligence is the foundation of intellect and is defined in the “Your Knowledge, Intelligence and Wisdom” pearl as: “The capacity to acquire and apply knowledge to better survive”. Unfortunately, our knowledge (memories) on a subject can be all fact or all false or an opinion (part fact and part false). Thus, when someone’s intellect about a specific subject is based on facts it makes that person a “wise-genius”, “knowing what is true, right and lasting and having the good sense to employ it”. But when someone’s intellect about a specific subject is based on falsehoods it makes that person an “ignorant-genius”; they show a genius for being ignorant. Of course, even a wise-genius can have memories that are just opinions or lies, making them a wise-genius on some subjects and an ignorant-genius on other subjects. Also, when strong emotional memories control our rationale, they make us an ignorant-genius, which is obvious from our strong emotional reaction when that subject is brought up.
Unfortunately, most politicians are geniuses at being ignorant because they support any falsehood necessary to get them elected. POTUS 45 called himself a "stable genius”, which I can only assume means that thinks that he is as much a genius as animals in a stable. POTUS-47 is an example of an ignorant-genius since most of his opinions are based on his false memories that contain other people’s false opinions and conspiracy theories contrived to flatter him. Like POTUS-45, Elon Musk has failed on more endeavors than he has succeeded, making him more of an ignorant-genius than a wise-genius.
What is Genius-Creativity?
Definition of creativity: “Displaying productive originality, expressiveness and imagination.” This too needs a more precise definition since creativity isn’t a thing, it’s the manner in which we are creative—this includes:
"Epiphany" creativity: “A comprehension or perception of reality by means of a sudden intuitive realization”. Albert Einstein’s “Special Theory of Relativity” and “E = MC2” are examples of epiphanies to create his theories, which are now considered fact.
"A-priori" creativity: “Derived from a known or assumed hypothesis instead of from actual physical experiment”. Albert Einstein was a theoretical physicist, not a experimental physicist, which is why his “General Theory of Relativity” and gravity that are mostly based on the fallacious opinions of others is more false than fact. Refer to the “What is Gravity” management pearl for the real definition of the gravitational force.
Much of today’s a-priori opinions about cosmology (“the study of the physical universe”), such as black holes, dark matter, thermo-nuclear solid suns, worm holes, multiple universes, etc. are fallacies derived from false opinions of mathematicians who know little about factual scientific experiment. Neil deGrasse Tyson is notorious for expounding on these fallacies and his opinions are probably 20% fact and 80% fallacious. Louis Nye (the science guy) is an example of a real scientist whose opinions are probably 80% fact and 20% fallacious.
"Trial-and-Error" creativity: “A method of reaching a correct solution or a satisfactory result by trying out various means or theories until error is sufficiently reduced or eliminated”.
Thomas Edison is the epitome of using trial-and-error creativity, having produced hundreds of big and small creations. His most famous trial-and-error creation was the light bulb, which took him over 500 trials to sufficiently reduce the error.
"Right-Brain" creativity: The R-brain socializer style’s motivations support creativity: (1) to pursue pleasure and gain, 2) to be unconstrained, and 3) to trust new situations. R-brain director style thinking is the epitome of trial and error thinking. Interactive director thinking makes a decision and proceeds on it, only to realize that it doesn’t work and to obtain more factual details and try again, causing damage along the way. Director style thinking might eventually get it right, but when it can't it settles for inadequate results in order to move on.
Creativity, like intellect can be positive (based on wisdom/facts) or negative (based on ignorance/fallacies). When based on wisdom creativity is constructive, “serving to improve and advance" making that person a wise-creator. But when creativity is based on ignorance it is destructive, injurious, damaging or adversarial” creating chaos and making that person an ignorant-creator. Thus, wise-creators help others while ignorant-creators hurt others.
Elon Musk, and most strong R-brain people with money and power are prime examples of trial-and-error ignorant-creators. Musk has failed with most of the companies he purchased that were built on the creativity of others—let’s face it, you can buy elections but you can’t buy creativity. Basically, Elon Musk is a failing ignorant-genius and a destructive ignorant-creator. POTUS-47 is rarely creative, but when he is, he is a destructive ignorant-creator since almost all of his knowledge is based on the lies and false opinions of others, especially opinions that praise him. Most of his reactions are based on revenge and what is best for him instead of others.
Bottom Line on “What is Genius?”
Genius refers to reacting with high intellect and creativity. Unfortunately, it is the type of intellect that makes someone a wise-genius or an ignorant-genius and it is the manner of creativity that makes someone a constructive, wise-creator or a destructive, ignorant-creator. Someone's integrity also helps to separate the wheat (wise) from the chaff (ignorant) and is something to be consider before accepting anyone/anything as “genius”.
I hope that this "Genius" pearl has helped you to better understand what genius is and to more accurately evaluate the so-called geniuses in your life. Any person can be a wise-genius on some subjects and an ignorant-genius on other subjects. You might also consider the subjects that make you a wise-genius, something to be proud of, and the subjects that make you an ignorant genius, something you need to work on.
