why aren’t you a genius?

your brain is like a computer that is constantly receiving input and broadcasting output. the value of the input and output is determined largely by your vocabulary, or the number of words you understand. if your vocabulary is small, then the value of input is largely decreased because you probably don’t understand what you are receiving. also, if you have a small vocabulary the quality of your output is going to suffer greatly as well.

it is widely accepted that vocabulary is directly tied to intelligence. the larger your functional vocabulary is, the more intelligent you are likely to be because the understanding of linguistic context is embedded in how we define words. if you didn’t understand that sentence my point has been made.

genius, however, is a different sack of nuts altogether. contrary to popular belief, genius is not about how intelligent you are, but the connections you are able to make between situations that may appear to be unrelated. for example, developing an understanding of international social dynamics through your world of warcraft addiction is a connection that would not be readily apparent.

the individuals that are able to make these connections frequently, and use them to the benefit of themselves or humanity, are what history will refer to as geniuses. the question then becomes, do you have to be born a genius or is it something that can be developed.

i don’t have the answer to the question, but it is my suspicion that genius can be developed through an the application of philosophical processes and associative thinking. some people do this better than others. my mind has a tendency to wander from subject to subject looking for the connections between them, usually in the interest of making a joke that nobody will understand, and therefore make me look like a weirdo.

other people may have to work at it harder. it might have to feel like work, which is why so few people probably consciously make the effort, which is why we have come to believe that a genius must be born.

the ultimate question is now, though, that if you think genius can be actively developed, are you in some way morally or intellectually responsible to apply your own brain to making the connection of genius that will one day be regarded from the pages of history?

losing gracefully & defeating cynicism

“i didn’t vote for him, but he’s my president, and i hope he does a good job”. i believe these were the words of john wayne after the election of president kennedy. it is a farfetched hope to think that you might hear something like that coming out of a mccain supporter’s mouth today.

what I witnessed today was extremely indicative of the political atmosphere we live in. for eight years we have been dealing with the bush idiocracy, which has been an eternity for those of us who haven’t supported him from the beginning. it has had a particularly strong effect on young voters, say those under the age of 24, who probably don’t remember the political climate of any president before bush. to them this is just the way politics are.

the horrible blunders, the propaganda, and the partisan fighting during the bush administration have resulted in extreme political cynicism on both sides of the fence. i suspect that had mccain won the race that obama supporters would be angry and dejected; taking a hard fall from the heights that hope had lifted them up to. however, i will go out on a limb and say that the elation that obama supporters felt when his victory was announced could never have been equaled by mccain supporters had he won.

reading facebook comments, notes and status updates showed me how deeply cynical, hateful, and ignorant some people are. many people declairing that they are leaving the country, or obama is going to run america into the ground, and it’s the beginning of the end.

we have turned into an all-or-nothing kind of country. you are either a far-left ultra-liberal, or you are a right-wing nutjob. and it seems that the only way to regard political candidates is either that the one you support is the ultimate patriot, carrying our flag riddled with bullet holes directly to the enemy’s doorstep and then beating them to within an inch of their lives with the flagpole, or the one you don’t support spends their time sitting in dark, smoky rooms plotting the downfall of our nation.

this just doesn’t make any damn sense. all of our candidates, even ralph nader, are men who love their country. i may not have supported john mccain, but i would never question his love for his country – although i have my doubts about sarah palin and her evil cyborg husband. look for him playing a machine on the sarah connor chronicles later this winter.

we have to move beyond the deep cynicism that the bush administration has gifted us with and learn to support our president and hope he does a good job, even if we didn’t vote for him. not just in this election, but in every election, do we have to consider the future of our country. this isn’t college football rivalries, or counter strike matches, it is the future of our nation, and we must move forward with the hope that all of our elected officials will do the best job they can, even if we didn’t vote for them.

and then watch with glee on the daily show when the sex scandals are revealed.