- Aug 6, 2012
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So I was considering this question as I have always been lured to genius, regardless of the vocation or application.
To define genius is very difficult unless one just narrowed it down to Intelligent Quotient, which I believe is far too narrow a definition. Genius involves immense creativity. Pushing a boundary to the point you create a new boundary. Perhaps contributing in such a way that it is very difficult to see a peer in your sphere of life.
Thus, for me at least; genius goes WELL beyond just mathematics and the like. It involves discovery and thinking outside the box in such a manner so as to rewrite history, influence and stand as a giant among men. From war time to music and creation, there have been countless geniuses, many which we never knew or worse, never reached their potential (which is why I despise people who define and pigeon hole others limits).
Off the top of my head, in this moment in time, my partial list. Many of them deeply flawed humans of course:
Thomas Edison- Just brilliant in his inventions and application of creativity.
Isaac Newton- altered the way we view the world
Galileo- courageously altered the way we see the solar system
Leonardo Da Vinci- most known for his art, but lesser known for his inventions. Look up his contributions.
Howard Huges- the Elon Musk of our time though less diverse and even more eccentric.
Elon Musk- reinventing the world and the imagination of humanity.
Geoffrey Hinton- Canadian/UK computer scientist who basically identified and first applied backwards propagation to A.I. His efforts spawned Machine Learning and Neural Networks which have increased the development of A.I exponentially.
Alan Turing- so much current technology owed to him not to mention countless soldiers lives due to his efforts.
Orson Welles- from radio to television, one of the few true Renaissance Men in history and a maverick to boot.
Jimi Hendrix- not since Chuck Berry had the guitar meant so much and he reinvented psychedelia, distortion and the creativity only he could find
Jimmy Page- the most diverse and virtuoso of guitarists to ever play and influence rock.
Albert Einstein- for theory of relativity though he was an even better prognosticator of what was to come with the invention of the atom bomb
Winston Churchill- lead the world at a time when few objectively believed the Germans could be stopped. He probably didn't even believe it, but he could never surrender or make a deal, despite the pressure.
Juan Garcia (Garbo)- Spanish spy who was a double agent and made up the most outlandish stories and was being paid by the British and the Germans while he fooled them about D Day (and many other events)
John Stuart Mills- the defender of the dignity of freedom and individual liberty
Sun Tzu- influenced military men and the structure of the corporation
Martin Luther King- for understanding the basis of human nature and the erasing of differences of men through no fault of their own, to define it as the "content of their character". Maybe the most simple, yet profound description of how we should view one another
Bobby Fisher- ignited the interest of chess in America and defied the Russian Bear.
Paul Morphy- Also a chess player. So dominant at a time and unmatched anywhere by anyone. The distant between him and the next best player was never more further in world history and it was all natural for him.
There are quite a few more, but these are who I think of in the moment. Not just about X's and O's, but profound contributions and ideas.
What say you?
To define genius is very difficult unless one just narrowed it down to Intelligent Quotient, which I believe is far too narrow a definition. Genius involves immense creativity. Pushing a boundary to the point you create a new boundary. Perhaps contributing in such a way that it is very difficult to see a peer in your sphere of life.
Thus, for me at least; genius goes WELL beyond just mathematics and the like. It involves discovery and thinking outside the box in such a manner so as to rewrite history, influence and stand as a giant among men. From war time to music and creation, there have been countless geniuses, many which we never knew or worse, never reached their potential (which is why I despise people who define and pigeon hole others limits).
Off the top of my head, in this moment in time, my partial list. Many of them deeply flawed humans of course:
Thomas Edison- Just brilliant in his inventions and application of creativity.
Isaac Newton- altered the way we view the world
Galileo- courageously altered the way we see the solar system
Leonardo Da Vinci- most known for his art, but lesser known for his inventions. Look up his contributions.
Howard Huges- the Elon Musk of our time though less diverse and even more eccentric.
Elon Musk- reinventing the world and the imagination of humanity.
Geoffrey Hinton- Canadian/UK computer scientist who basically identified and first applied backwards propagation to A.I. His efforts spawned Machine Learning and Neural Networks which have increased the development of A.I exponentially.
Alan Turing- so much current technology owed to him not to mention countless soldiers lives due to his efforts.
Orson Welles- from radio to television, one of the few true Renaissance Men in history and a maverick to boot.
Jimi Hendrix- not since Chuck Berry had the guitar meant so much and he reinvented psychedelia, distortion and the creativity only he could find
Jimmy Page- the most diverse and virtuoso of guitarists to ever play and influence rock.
Albert Einstein- for theory of relativity though he was an even better prognosticator of what was to come with the invention of the atom bomb
Winston Churchill- lead the world at a time when few objectively believed the Germans could be stopped. He probably didn't even believe it, but he could never surrender or make a deal, despite the pressure.
Juan Garcia (Garbo)- Spanish spy who was a double agent and made up the most outlandish stories and was being paid by the British and the Germans while he fooled them about D Day (and many other events)
John Stuart Mills- the defender of the dignity of freedom and individual liberty
Sun Tzu- influenced military men and the structure of the corporation
Martin Luther King- for understanding the basis of human nature and the erasing of differences of men through no fault of their own, to define it as the "content of their character". Maybe the most simple, yet profound description of how we should view one another
Bobby Fisher- ignited the interest of chess in America and defied the Russian Bear.
Paul Morphy- Also a chess player. So dominant at a time and unmatched anywhere by anyone. The distant between him and the next best player was never more further in world history and it was all natural for him.
There are quite a few more, but these are who I think of in the moment. Not just about X's and O's, but profound contributions and ideas.
What say you?
