Parents Are the Problem and Society is the Source Pt. 1
Why society hates, and therefore fears, true genius.
Photo by Belinda Fewings on Unsplash
We must realize society does not reward true genius. Society’s embrace of true genius is an anomaly. Society resists change, which is the very thing genius creates. Society only appears to embrace genius when it is undeniable, in an attempt to co-opt its power and influence for its own use.
Society must reject these new ways of understanding life. Any possibility of society being seen as “wrong” becomes a threat to authority. An authority based on supposed superiority of knowledge.
Why do we think people cling to hierarchical understandings of intelligence such as degrees or certificates? Society necessitates ways to divide people. Society allows influence to some and ignores the opinion of others. It separates knowledge from truth, which any person can discover, and connects it to whether it conforms.
They have to tie education with classism, or else the commoners will believe they can understand life, without need of a ruler chosen by “God”. Whether a religious interpretation, or by modern society’s current “Gods”, money, fame, and titles conferred by the ruling class.
Society’s Repudiation of Genius
Society creates clear barriers to genius. Rather than embrace innovation, taking solace in the fact they did their best with the info they had, society undermines genius. All due to its outsized pride, pride that is the insecurity of fear in disguise.
Look at Einstein. Look at Tesla. Society shuns true genius from a young age. It calls them weirdos. Genius is misunderstood because society, and the individual who conforms to it, is uncomfortable with what they perceive as abnormal.
Even if a genius creates no harm, society perceives asking new questions and entertaining new ideas as a threat. Genius forces them to open their minds. And for those whose entire understanding of life revolves around the illusion of control, true genius pulls their worldview apart. So they fear and reject it. They do not create space for possibilities. They seek to shut themselves down, to strengthen their bubble of ignorance, lest this villain come along and destroy the illusion that founds their life.
How Children are Mentally Destroyed by Society
Does the young genius understand this rejection? Are they confused by society shunning their curiosity, their creativity, their imagination? Society being represented by those people and places that make up their environment. Do they not understand why they must be punished for their way of being?
How many potential geniuses lose their creative spark as children? That spark which is central to paradigm shifting discovery. They want what all humans are born craving, acceptance, love, and appreciation. But are denied it due to their curiosity and imagination.
How many people lose their genius and never regain it? How many suffer because they must hide their genius, who they truly are, otherwise their environment will punish them for it?
Typically it is not society that recognizes or nurtures genius, but a loved one or another genius who decides to invest.
The “Fake” Geniuses of Modern Society
Many people hailed as genius today, might not truly deserve the distinction. Rather than being true innovators, they are talented iterators. They work within the confines of preexisting ideas, but more capably than others.
If you build on previous iterations, its only natural to discover more of the box you’re forced to explore. How many have throttled their potential genius to remain within society’s guidelines?
They too have been brainwashed into the chase of outside validation. Whether it comes in the form of recognition, money, or any other way society doles out the mind altering drug of acceptance. Any of the forms of control society uses to restrict coloring outside the lines.
This includes the use of fear or violence to intimidate those with imagination. Those with a different vision of life. This is possibly every human, given the natural creativity the free human spirit desires to express. Society restricts and co-opts free will, forcing it into a prison so it can be used as a slave. Any spark of creativity must serve as fuel for the power of the ruling class, or else it must be extinguished.
Corporate Control of Potential Genius
Human potential for genius increases as more people gain access to different disciplines. This increases the chance of connections between seemingly disparate subjects. These original connections provide new and enlightening understandings. But how much does social media and its algorithms control what the population sees, and what they think is worth exploring?
Do companies funnel and direct human intelligence? Companies with a vested interest in directing human attention and energy for their own selfish gain. They control the vital resource that is human consciousness. They decide what the human cares about, stifling creativity. These companies and their algorithms hurt the development of genius by decreasing our exposure to novel ideas.
Genius Lost In Information Overload
In addition, does the amount of information provided by social media and technology make genius harder to recognize? Are we exposed to more genius, while also being distracted from it?
In the book “Genius” by Harold Bloom, he writes “Genius is now a term very much out of fashion… the World Wide Web will be no friendlier to the idea of Genius. In that great ocean of texts, how many will be able to discern a work of transcendent eminence? … this is… only a timely meditation upon what it takes to survive a mindless era, where screens replace books and sensation negates thinking” (195-196).
The fact this was written in 2002 amazes me. It seems impossible Harold Bloom could have foreseen the ubiquity of the cell phone, which places a screen in many a pocket. The easy access to mindless scrolling, caught in a loop, chasing sensations and blocking the development of personal feeling or thought.
With so much info at your fingertips, has it become harder to recognize genius? Has genius become lost in translation, stuck between celebrity gossip, sports, or negativity the news likes to circulate? Is genius lost between videos of people acting foolishly, seeking to entertain others for material gain or the gain of attention? Will people only recognize genius in the form of entertainment, forcing genius into increasingly smaller boxes? Will people fail to be entertained by thinking anymore?
Or will increased access to others lead to greater recognition of genius levels of thought? Interesting questions. One that an optimist and a pessimist will no doubt see differently.
My Optimism About The Future of Genius, Despite Society’s Evils
I'm hopeful that the cream will rise, and a population tired of outdated thought will appreciate true innovation. That new generations embrace change rather than resist it. That people won’t shun genius or fear how it rearranges human understanding of the familiar. I see how corporations and those in power rush to co-opt the influence of social media. They know people are searching for something more, something deeper.
Throughout history, the ruling class restricts the flow of information amongst the population. They know the smarter the masses and the more aware they become of injustice, the more tenuous their power becomes. Their power is always contingent on the ignorance of the people, because they are always outnumbered. They are simply more organized, more focused, and more ruthless in their methods.
How the ruling class (the rich and wealthy who control the government) controls the flow of information in the modern era worries me. How the powers that be can use algorithms and the media to normalize mindless consumption, now providing more trash than ever to distract the general population. And how the normalization of trash encourages people to recreate popularized trash, wasting their increasing power to produce their own media. How people eat and then shit out empty calories, rather than produce thoughtful and profound media. Media that not only reveals their own genius, but encourages others to explore their own unique insights.
A Collective Awakening and… Sleepening? Deadening? (hahaha)
I do think there is a collective awakening taking place. More people desire something deeper than the hollow existence they see humans suffering from. People-driven creation on the internet provides communities where deep thinkers can meet and share. These places allow for a collective drive to recognize and popularize genius, but also allow for the opposite. They also provide a place where communities can double down on stupidity. Even worse, they see this idiocy as genius and further remove humans from innovative thought. Moving towards thinking that detonates intelligent thought. The difference between thought that liberates and thought that discriminates.
Like anything in life, the truth lies on a spectrum. Both these things will occur simultaneously, just as they always have throughout history. Some will recognize genius and some will demonize it. Others will persist as zombies, mindlessly falling in line with whatever they are told. But I keep coming back to this question… Are technological advancements making it harder or easier to recognize genius? Genius being easier to access doesn't make it easier to recognize. But it doesn't necessarily make it harder either.
Maybe we have to ask other questions, such as, how many people are searching for genius and to what end? On the other hand, for what reasons are potential geniuses creating? Are they seeking to innovate or to iterate? Are they following their “weird” or following the crowd? Can you consider iterations to be true genius? Very interesting. Looks like we must do what humans are always forced to do… wait and see.
What We As Individuals Can Do
In the meantime, we can choose to contribute to the liberation of human consciousness. Starting on a personal level. We can stop letting society’s ideas become our own without second thought. We can examine ourselves, come to know ourselves separately from who society tells us we’re supposed to be. A fairy tale, no, a horror story we thoughtlessly adopt after being told society’s opinions matter more than our own.
I trust that human intuition will feel its way forward, as it has done throughout history. That increasing awareness of society’s collapse, a collapse due to its discrimination and division from various “isms”, will push more people to seek positive expressions of genius. Ones that free the consciousness and unite the people.
Humans Evolve, Society Devolves
Of course negative things will take place as well. But I believe the majority of humanity has common sense and the ability to recognize common sense when exposed to it often enough. It’s common sense for humans to rally together to ensure our collective survival. The method by which a naked ape was able to survive for generations without fire, without claws, without being able to run that fast, or jump that high. The collective consciousness will allow for human intelligence, and its ultimate guide, wisdom, to solve, alleviate, or eliminate the problems we face.
We’ll have new problems to face, but at least it won’t be the same ones. The ones plaguing society since the agricultural revolution allowed for the encoding of hierarchies. In the big picture, these dividing hierarchies are why the human race has devolved.
No matter what new technology arises or how smart we get, on a fundamental level the human animal has devolved. At one point we realized the best option to ensure our species’ survival was cooperation. Now the ruling class has CHOSEN competition and we destroy each other to serve our ego. As a species, we have lost our way towards being better suited for survival on an individual and collective level.