Skip to main content

Thought 15 - The Curse of Genius

Currently have a few friends going through some rough times, and they are all smart talented people. So, I'd figure I'd put up one of my observations of the world.

The curse of genius as I see it, is that the world is flawed, imperfect, and broken, that it need to refined, perfected, and fixed. The genius will pursue to endlessly this goal, it is this view that the world could be may better that makes a genius look so incredibly smart and talented to those around them. However, the pursuit has in itself a dangerous flaw, that not everything can be refined, perfected, or fixed. It is upon internal realization of this flaw comes an inevitable choice: Continue the pursuit, the rules be damned, things will be changed! or find a quieter more stable path fixing minor things. I find that the first usually comes with a very high price tag. One, sadly, I decided was too high. The stable path does not mean that interests cannot be followed or world fixed, just that flaws in the world get fixed more slowly, interests are pursued at a walk rather than a run.

I have learned, in my short time in this world, that everything balances out in the end. Everything will be alright, no matter the course of action taken. Sometimes the hardest decisions in life are those that lead to doing less. Of course sometimes we are allowed to change our decisions...

Evidence to the curse of the genius are found all throughout literature and life, starting with the ever famous Daedalus, Galileo, John Forbes Nash. Though arguably successful, for each the price of genius came with a cost.

Recommend reading/watching:
Ovid's Metamorphoses
Tucker
A Beautiful Mind
Fast, Cheap & Out of Control

"Fast Cheap & Out of Control" is more inspirational about what we can do, if we continue our pursuits, without regard, whatever it is that we do.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Thought 44: Phone Home

This is actually two thoughts in one, but they are both phone related. Thought 44.1: The backside keyboard. We created the typewriters since 1829 and they've use all of our fingers in an effort to create efficiency. We have even created varieties of key layouts such as qwerty and Dvorak to improve the typing speed. Then we took a huge step backwards and created the cell phone with only the 12 buttons for typing, reducing not only the number of keys by the number of fingers usable on those keys. Then we made the thought that if we just replicate the full qwerty things would be better. And to some extend they are, but we still are reduced to just 2 fingers, or rather thumbs to type with. Then it struck me, the full key set could go on the back of the phone. Well at first it seems rather stupid how do you see the keys to type on them, but does/should a touch typist ever look at the typewriter or keyboard? No. The buttons on the back could be a full qwerty keyboard split and r...

Thought 16 - Kid Power

In response "Thought 14 - Perpetual Cat" sugarbumkin said, "The same theory could be applied to balloons tied to kindergarteners at recess. I like it." Well this got me thinking... Clothes with that are laced with MEMS generators. A MEMS generator is a solid state electronic circuit that generates low level of current though passive motion of the environment. Things like temperature change, acceleration, and even Brownian motion are converted to power using a MEMS generator. So, now we have attached them to small free moving bipeds of pure energy. How do we get the energy back. I figure that we isolate the playground into a large battery configuration where the children are running around on a conductive plate that makes contact with the heels of their shoes. They will run around with a super capacitor in addition to the MEMS, when their feet touch the ground the super-cap is discharged into the conductive plate underneath them. I do not think that the childr...

Thought 1 - Future Bike Helmet

Now that I have a motorcycle, I realize the potential future possibilities of the helmet. Wherein the helmet can become more than just mere protection, but a useful interface and aid to the rider. The concept stems from three currently available, but edgy technologies: transparent displays, blue tooth, and EEG recording. Technology 1: Transparent Displays Transparent displays are just now being put into high end cars and modern aircraft to create a dashboard on the windshield allows the driver or pilot to view the instruments, like speedometer, radar, engine problems, etc. This is typically done with a projected display onto a special film on the window. It can also be performed by simply building the LCD into the screen. The built in is not done because it is more costly in terms of construction of the display and a crack or chip in the display becomes an LCD ink blot. The projector could potentially be built into the visor of a motor cycle helmet, especial now that mini projec...