This blog collects my postings and publications on IQ, personality and Genius. The Genius Famine, a book written from this blog, is available free at: http://geniusfamine.blogspot.co.uk or can be purchased at Amazon [at https://www.amazon.com/Genius-Famine-geniuses-dying-rescue/dp/1908684607/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=The+Genius+Famine&qid=1567897246&s=books&sr=1-1].
Monday, 1 December 2014
Why are modern conditions so hostile to genius? Because those in power are zealously protecting the web of lies
Western Modernity is hostile to genius,
in a way that contrasts strongly with the history of the West.
This is not a matter of merely failing to reward geniuses. That is true, but does not really matter; since genius is (and must be) internally motivated; so genius does what genius does (unless it is actively prevented from doing it).
So modern geniuses do what they do - but whereas Western societies of the past eagerly seized-upon the products of genius and exploited them (with or without the geniuses consent - and often while denying the genius any reward or even credit for their discovery) nowadays the West not merely fails to benefit from the activities of genius; it actively attacks the breakthroughs of genius.
This seems hard to understand - because in principle there is power and money to be made from the breakthroughs of genius; but this is in fact why attack is necessary - so as to prevent people spontaneously exploiting the insights of genius.
In general, the breakthroughs of a genius are paradigm-busting; they tend to break-down and re-make structures of knowledge. In the past this was not usually resisted because there was an implicit aim of basing our lives upon truth, beauty and virtue.
But 'reality' as perceived by modernity is NOW a vast and interlocking web of selective facts, distortions and outright lies - sustained by a powerful, enveloping, pervasive and addictive mass media.
Any insight or breakthrough in understanding of any kind threatens the entire edifice of the web of lies; whether that breakthrough is in ethics (virtue), science and technology (truth) or the arts (beauty).
Those in power at the highest levels know that their position depends on sustaining this web of lies - they know because this is the main everyday activity - the manufacture and 'management' of the tissue of dishonesty; and the web of lies is the only world they know.
Therefore, for modern leaders, the most dangerous people in the world are those who threaten the web of lies - the geniuses; therefore genius will be fought, and their insights denied and suppressed, by whatever means are most effective: denigration, mockery, misrepresentation, demonization... whatever works.
Thus, Western Modernity has become more actively and comprehensively and systematically hostile to genius, and the insights and discoveries of genius, than perhaps any previous society; and no matter how much they are needed, the breakthroughs of genus cannot (and will not) be used - for fear of triggering a meltdown in social order; a domino-effect in which one truth leads to another, one beauty or virtuous act leads to another, and another... until the universal web of lies suddenly snaps, and gives way... and then what?
This is not a matter of merely failing to reward geniuses. That is true, but does not really matter; since genius is (and must be) internally motivated; so genius does what genius does (unless it is actively prevented from doing it).
So modern geniuses do what they do - but whereas Western societies of the past eagerly seized-upon the products of genius and exploited them (with or without the geniuses consent - and often while denying the genius any reward or even credit for their discovery) nowadays the West not merely fails to benefit from the activities of genius; it actively attacks the breakthroughs of genius.
This seems hard to understand - because in principle there is power and money to be made from the breakthroughs of genius; but this is in fact why attack is necessary - so as to prevent people spontaneously exploiting the insights of genius.
In general, the breakthroughs of a genius are paradigm-busting; they tend to break-down and re-make structures of knowledge. In the past this was not usually resisted because there was an implicit aim of basing our lives upon truth, beauty and virtue.
But 'reality' as perceived by modernity is NOW a vast and interlocking web of selective facts, distortions and outright lies - sustained by a powerful, enveloping, pervasive and addictive mass media.
Any insight or breakthrough in understanding of any kind threatens the entire edifice of the web of lies; whether that breakthrough is in ethics (virtue), science and technology (truth) or the arts (beauty).
Those in power at the highest levels know that their position depends on sustaining this web of lies - they know because this is the main everyday activity - the manufacture and 'management' of the tissue of dishonesty; and the web of lies is the only world they know.
Therefore, for modern leaders, the most dangerous people in the world are those who threaten the web of lies - the geniuses; therefore genius will be fought, and their insights denied and suppressed, by whatever means are most effective: denigration, mockery, misrepresentation, demonization... whatever works.
Thus, Western Modernity has become more actively and comprehensively and systematically hostile to genius, and the insights and discoveries of genius, than perhaps any previous society; and no matter how much they are needed, the breakthroughs of genus cannot (and will not) be used - for fear of triggering a meltdown in social order; a domino-effect in which one truth leads to another, one beauty or virtuous act leads to another, and another... until the universal web of lies suddenly snaps, and gives way... and then what?
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An example of ingenious prodigy:
Ainan Cawley, Genius, Entirely Shunned in the West
Posted on December 11, 2015 by Aeoli Pera
I found this comment by “Syahidah and Valentine” while rereading an old Bruce Charlton post on the modern hostili+- --ty to genius. [An example of this blog has been posted above as “Intelligence, Personality and Genius].
You often opine that there are no major modern geniuses left. I would agree that there may be few or none known…but I believe that they exist: it is the hostility that you speak of, to them, that keeps them unknown, unsuccessful and uninfluential. It is very interesting to weigh our experiences with our son, a creative omnibus prodigy, against your statements about the nature of the West. The coverage of Ainan’s achievements (across diverse areas such as Science, writing, film-making, directing, composing among others), has been strong in Asia, but interestingly non-existent in the USA (apart from one article in the Wall Street Journal, front page), and relatively minor in the UK (a couple of articles). In Asia there have been hundreds of articles. To my mind, this indicates a very cultural stance towards creative giftedness, underway. I rather think that the West is in for a surprise, in the next few decades, once these differential attitudes have had time to play themselves out. Valentine Cawley.
Cawley was a child prodigy. Here’s a relatively good article including him.
For other children, being smart makes them a target. Ainan Celeste Cawley – the youngest person in the world to pass O-level chemistry at seven and physics at nine – was bullied “extensively” during his Bukit Timah Primary School days, though he opened up about the incidents only “in recent months”, says writer-actor dad Valentine Cawley, 45.
Ainan, 13, says: “Once, someone tripped me with his leg. I just picked myself up and left.
“I did not teach myself to not care, I just don’t care. Unless they are serious in their words, why should I take them into consideration?”
His mother is Singaporean artist Syahidah Osman, 34, and he has two brothers, Fintan, nine, and Tiarnan, seven.
The family live in an apartment in Kuala Lumpur, where Ainan is in Taylor University’s American Degree Transfer Programme, which allows for flexible, broad-based learning. He is majoring in the sciences but doing everything from computer programming to theatre. Last year, he composed the score for a 15-minute short film for a film festival.
Mr Cawley has learnt a lesson from his son not to “regiment” him. The boy began composing at six but when his parents arranged music lessons for him, he “wouldn’t touch the piano for the next six years”, says dad.
Ainan says: “I do not enjoy rigorous and repetitive training, which was the way I was being taught then.”
http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/my-child-is-a-prodigy
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https://aeolipera.wordpress.com/2015/12/11/ainan-cawley-genius-entirely-shunned-in-the-west/
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