063 Being mad: a sign of genius?
Isn’t it ironic that the last name of the “Mad Scientist” is literally synonymous to the word Genius?
Why are geniuses on the crazier end of the spectrum as measured by people who adhere to norms?
“The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when one contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvellous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries to comprehend only a little of this mystery every day.”
— A. Einstein
The Amazing Things & Ideas List
VIDEO:
Rewatching the first unconventional video I ever saw
The above video by Patrick Bet-David is one of the very first counter-culture videos I watched a couple years ago.
It was mind-blowing at the time and pretty much lit the spark for all that came next.
All the things I never knew I desperately wanted someone to teach me at that time is in that video.
ESSAY:
“I, Pencil”
Not a single person on the face of this Earth knows how to make a pencil.
Sounds like a bold claim, doesn’t it? But its true.
No one individual can make a pencil without the collective knowledge of all of humanity.
This infamous essay by Leonard Read makes you see the world never the quite same again.
You can read the essay or get a free eBook/PDF of it here.
QUOTE:
Dogmas don’t understand who people are, science does
“It is said that science will dehumanise people and turn them into numbers. That is false, tragically false. Look for yourself. This is the concentration camp and crematorium at Auschwitz. This is where people were turned into numbers. Into this pond were flushed the ashes of some four million people. And that was not done by gas. It was done by arrogance. It was done by dogma. It was done by ignorance. When people believe that they have absolute knowledge, with no test in reality, this is how they behave. This is what men do when they aspire to the knowledge of gods.”
— Jacob Bronowski, The Ascent of Man
POEM:
To see a World in a Grain of Sand
To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.— An excerpt from Auguries of Innocence by William Blake
A film review by me
This week I wrote another article for the amazing Taking Children Seriously website.
This time reviewing one of my all time favorite films, Dead Poets Society.
You can read my review here.
That’s it for this week! Thank you for reading.
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Onward,
Arjun
As Kanye said, “name one genius that ain’t crazy”
...although in his case , it’s prolly worth noting that that *crazy doesn’t require genius* 🤣