When we ask if genius can come out of a metaphorical vacuum, this begs the question, did life come out of a vacuum? We evolved from single cells, and so genius is a relative thing when placed in the context of the gradual progression of Homo evolution. Yet there has always been a bell curve-type distribution of various capacities, not only intellectual, at any given point in evolutionary history, that contributed to survival. If you always need a genius to make another genius, where did the first one come from? We, our line of cells, have developed organs with the capacity to think, to reason and this has happened without anyone's individual will--in a "vacuum."
The question is would a genius still actualize their genius in the world if they were not also exposed to other geniuses?
Science is an exploratory, stair-step process, a gradual building with plenty of flubs along the way, as is biological evolution, cultural evolution, intellectual evolution. Genius is taking the next step, blazing the next trail. It makes sense that scientists stand on the backs of other scientists because we are trying to collectively piece together the truth in science. A cultural context, an exchange of ideas, a society, these are the breeding grounds for valuable contributions to the improvement of human life and this is what gets recognized, these people are notable, these ideas withstand the test of time-survival of the fittest ideas-and these are geniuses, who shed a bit more light on the truth, expand the territory of human understanding, reveal something useful. Mathematics came out of nowhere, every idea was originally born in a mind for the first time, and as our ability to organize and transmit these ideas increases, the breeding ground becomes more fertile.
So we're all standing on the backs of thinkers who came before us, that is an inescapable, intrinsic part of our social reality for people who think and communicate in the world, yet whose back did the first thinkers stand on? I think it is important to remember the lesson of Socrates at this point, thinking for yourself and taking that step into the unknown...daring to question basic fundamental assumptions, to discover the truth for yourself, this is the spirit in which we ought to inquire into the world, an old world with long history which is yet always new. And this is the spirit that has driven human discovery.
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Why are people-I mean men-so afraid of smart women?
When we ask if genius can come out of a metaphorical vacuum, this begs the question, did life come out of a vacuum? We evolved from single cells, and so genius is a relative thing when placed in the context of the gradual progression of Homo evolution. Yet there has always been a bell curve-type distribution of various capacities, not only intellectual, at any given point in evolutionary history, that contributed to survival. If you always need a genius to make another genius, where did the first one come from? We, our line of cells, have developed organs with the capacity to think, to reason and this has happened without anyone's individual will--in a "vacuum." The question is would a genius still actualize their genius in the world if they were not also exposed to other geniuses? Science is an exploratory, stair-step process, a gradual building with plenty of flubs along the way, as is biological evolution, cultural evolution, intellectual evolution. Genius is taking the next step, blazing the next trail. It makes sense that scientists stand on the backs of other scientists because we are trying to collectively piece together the truth in science. A cultural context, an exchange of ideas, a society, these are the breeding grounds for valuable contributions to the improvement of human life and this is what gets recognized, these people are notable, these ideas withstand the test of time-survival of the fittest ideas-and these are geniuses, who shed a bit more light on the truth, expand the territory of human understanding, reveal something useful. Mathematics came out of nowhere, every idea was originally born in a mind for the first time, and as our ability to organize and transmit these ideas increases, the breeding ground becomes more fertile. So we're all standing on the backs of thinkers who came before us, that is an inescapable, intrinsic part of our social reality for people who think and communicate in the world, yet whose back did the first thinkers stand on? I think it is important to remember the lesson of Socrates at this point, thinking for yourself and taking that step into the unknown...daring to question basic fundamental assumptions, to discover the truth for yourself, this is the spirit in which we ought to inquire into the world, an old world with long history which is yet always new. And this is the spirit that has driven human discovery.