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The Shifting Myth of Genius
Recently, I found myself in a comment exchange with someone passionately advocating that we respect our science and its processes. He invoked Einstein and Newton as shining examples of how far we’ve come, thanks to the rigorous methods of science — how science checked their facts and either proved or disproved their theories. It was a classic argument, one that celebrates the achievements of genius within the confines of established systems.
Of course, I had to point out that you can’t use examples of historical geniuses like Einstein and Newton to validate the scientific method or epistemology because genius doesn’t play by those rules. Genius is bidirectional in learning; it’s fueled by high somatic intelligence that creates extreme patterns — patterns that these individuals then translate into the vocabulary of the system. So, when we hold up Einstein and Newton as proof of the success of our current scientific methods, we’re missing the point entirely. All we’re really showing is how genius has been lost in our current system, and how the average, along with our scientific processes, merely iterates on the foundational work laid down by true geniuses.
Needless to say, the conversation didn’t go well. The other person told me I didn’t understand how humans learned and to go educate myself. I realized then this was not a debate — it was a wake-up call. Average is so…
