posted on April 24, 2001 04:32:53 PM
Is Genius a product of nature or a product of nuture?
Does genius equate with intelligence?
Is genius present all the time or do people just have flashes of it?
Why can for example some autistic people (sauvants) perform absolutely outstanding mental processes in particular areas, eg, complex mathematical calculations, mastery of many languages, incredible musical ability?
Can genius be learnt?
Just some thoughts to ponder.
posted on April 24, 2001 05:53:32 PM
It is obviously waaaaaaaay to wet down your way still Bob. Otherwise you would not have time to be playing on the computer at this time of day, you would be playing golf. LOL
Have you got webbed feet yet???
Oh yes and I just thought I would mention we have a lovely sunny day today, with not a cloud in the sky.
Now as for your question. You can be a genius but not neccesarily intelligent enough to explain the most simple of things to someone. My brother is a genius, but don't ask him to explain anything to you, because you will never understand him, he just can not break things down to our normal level. If you could hear him and his University cohorts talking, you would think you had landed on a different planet.
A lot of people with genius ability do not possess the knowledge of how to deal with everyday problems, where as most of us can. So that really makes the rest of us the smart ones.
posted on April 24, 2001 06:19:09 PM
There is panic and mass confusion here in Melbourne today.
A strange bright light has appeared in the sky. People are prostrating themselves on the ground.
A newsflash has attempted to restore calm and subdue panic.
It has been explained as a glimpse of sunshine!
Bob, Downunder but never down.
posted on April 24, 2001 07:09:36 PM
Genius is when you have a geni. Obviously it is impossible to be a Christian and a genius because it is spiritism. Any other questians?
posted on April 24, 2001 07:41:14 PM
I think there's (at least) two kinds of "genius". I have had friends of both kinds.
"Genius #1" -- One of my friends back in high school (YEARS ago) had such a high IQ that he was placed in the gifted classes. He literally WAS a genius. The thing was, learning came so naturally to him that he was bored to tears in school, and he ended up getting into mischief constantly. Even the gifted classes couldn't keep him occupied. He had "intelligence", but he had very little common sense. Day-to-day decisions were more than he could handle. None of the teachers or his parents would try to work with him -- challenge him, help him learn to make simple decisions, etc. -- and he pretty much spent his teenage years in constant trouble for something. It seemed nobody wanted anything to do with him because of his being a so-called troublemaker. I lost touch with him after high school, but it still makes me sad to feel like his impressionable teenage years were a waste, when he could have done ANYTHING with his life that he wanted to. He just didn't know how.
"Genius #2" -- This is also a guy that I went to school with, but I didn't know him very well at the time. He's now a close friend to my husband and me. He was in the opposite situation in high school, I think partly because he had a barely-noticeable speech problem. He was put into the "slow" classes in school, and yes, when it comes to reading and spelling, he is a bit below average. He's also one of the smartest people I know. He might not can read a 500-page book in one day, but he has excellent math skills, is *very* smart when it comes to managing his money (he is virtually debt-free and has perfect credit), and has more common sense than most people do.
From what I've seen, geniuses can be ignorant*, and ignorant* people can be geniuses. It just depends on the situation at hand.
(*Ignorant meaning "not knowledgeable", not ignorant meaning "ignert". )
[ edited by thedewey on Apr 24, 2001 07:43 PM ]
posted on April 25, 2001 02:51:00 PM
My wife's family was friends with another family who counted among their number a collage professor who had a doctorate and taught a class at a local university.
The man could not make a pitcher of lemonade using the instructions on the can of frozen concentrate.
He could speak for hours in 3 languages and not say anything. That allowed him not to offend anyone. Good survival trait.
posted on April 26, 2001 07:18:58 AM
there are I.Q. standards that most feel determine this. In a more realistic sense there are probably many with very high I.Q.'s who do not function all that well in the real world outside academe. a high level of "book-smarts", "street-smarts", and problem solving ability is closer to my definition.
