If mozart and Einstein had been born in the Amazon
Gary
3,982 Posts
Would they still be geniuses? No pianos and no physics, they would just be hunting and fishing like everybody else. They might still be geniuses, but nobody would know. They wouldn't even know. I wonder this becuase I wonder if I might be a genius, but maybe I'm a genius at something I never tried, and so how would I know?
Just little mozart, walking around the jungle, chasing pirrhanas and whatnot. And there are no musical instruments, except maybe a drum. And so he can't become Genius Mozart, he's just another fella in a loincloth.
Or Glenn Gould, gifted at the piano. But suppose he was born before the piano was invented. Now he's gifted at something that hasn't even been invented yet. Is he still gifted? Or is he just sitting there, like "Hmmmm, something's missing."
Little Steven Hawking, born in the Congo. Likes looking at stars, the rest of the tribe thinks he's lazy, because he's just daydreaming all the time, looking at stars, instead of doing real work. Little does anybody know.
The mind boggles.
Just little mozart, walking around the jungle, chasing pirrhanas and whatnot. And there are no musical instruments, except maybe a drum. And so he can't become Genius Mozart, he's just another fella in a loincloth.
Or Glenn Gould, gifted at the piano. But suppose he was born before the piano was invented. Now he's gifted at something that hasn't even been invented yet. Is he still gifted? Or is he just sitting there, like "Hmmmm, something's missing."
Little Steven Hawking, born in the Congo. Likes looking at stars, the rest of the tribe thinks he's lazy, because he's just daydreaming all the time, looking at stars, instead of doing real work. Little does anybody know.
The mind boggles.
Comments
Fixed.
Who's gonna take the weight when the Hawkingmobile goes to the scrapyard?
Not seeing the next dude to take over that Galileo, Newton, Einstein lineage.
It pertains to what you're pondering.
Good book. The way it's structured really helps. Been a long time since I read it, might put it back in the queue.
To whether or not Gary may or may not himself be a genius, maybe.. I imagine there is some test scientists can give you to find out. But imo the delusion of believing yourself to be an undiscovered genius is of more comfort than knowing for a fact you are wholly ordinary.
-
There's a program on UK tv at the moment where they try and discover and develop peoples hidden talents.
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/hidden-talent/episode-guide/series-1
They have, what seem like simplified versions of the tests on the website, but I think they're really just internet time wasters.
The great nations of Europe would have come along and cleansed the continent of any trace of their genius.
How could they not be? That would imply that they were taught or learned to be geniuses, which is rediculous because if that was possible we would teach everyone to be geniuses.
Yeah, but if there are no musical instruments around then what is mozart a genius at? Probably nothing, right? Does that still make him a genius?
Talent and genius are not nearly as rare as they are often made out to be.
In order to be fully expressed, they need to be combined with other traits, opportunity, and luck.
Of course those people would still be geniuses, they just may not have had the other factors that resulted in the accomplishments that these people produced.
The Situation from Jersey Shore
That's it right there.
Everyone is a genius at something. Some of us are lucky enough to discover what it is, and even fewer have the good fortune to get into a situation where they can make use of it.