2006-09-24 02:35:35 · 22 answers · asked by frostbitten 3 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Philosophy
A very good question.
The spontaneous direct answer is: "A little touch of madness." And it may be true. But a close look into the question reveals many hidden factors.
1) Creativity - not all intelligent people are creative, but all creative people are intelligent. So. a genius is a creative intelligent person.
2) Aggressiveness - a timid mind never ventures into the unknown, though be of high IQ. Venturing into the unknown is a characteristic of a strong mind that has the guts to absorb unexpected results, and only a certain type of intelligent people is like this: the genius
3) Simplicity of character and vision - A genius could be arrogant, self-centered, repulsive and solitary - but can never be a complicated pair of glasses through which his mind looks at his surroundings. Reality is simple. Scientific facts are so down-to-earth that only simple visionary minds can perceive. The deeper you go in digging, the more you realize that if you were wrong from the beginning then by digging deeper you are going the opposite direction from truth. Geniuses don't dig deep; they catch the clue, the simple clue, and then they start digging. If they face contradictory results to the clue, they stop digging and start all over some other place, but with the same clue.
4) Geniuses are able to cross the red line because of that aggressiveness, that simplicity, and a touch of readiness to accept unorthodox results. A mind that can accept the possibility of paradoxical results is a genius mind. This is what we, the normal people, consider a touch of madness.
5) Intelligent people could be balanced. A genius is never a balanced character. Balanced characters are neutral; ineffective; passive and all their behavior is calculated and within measures and rules .. Such minds can never be creative; they need to cross the red line. Therefore, a genius is usually an extremist.
6) All the above elements are mere clues that we find about a genius, the fact remains in the genes.
2006-09-24 03:22:59 · answer #1 · answered by arabianbard 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The difference between a very intelligent person and a genius isn't necessarily more intelligence. A person can be seen as genial when he/she applies his/her's intelligence to the benefit of their community. The word 'genius' has a humanitarian conotation and is attributed to someone who has shown outstanding achievements in a particular field. The key is - regardless how intelligent you are, to be a genius as opposed to just very intelligent you would have to make an outstanding contribution to your community or indeed to humanity. To be considered a genius, humanity has to benefit from your work.
Mozart is considered a genius. Although his IQ may be lower than that of a 'very intelligent person' he will nevertheless write some of the most enchanting classical symphonies known to mankind - Therefore, because of his outstanding contribution to music Mozart is considered a Genius inspite of him scoring less in measured intelligence than the 'very intelligent person' . His contribution to music benefits humanity.
2006-09-24 04:00:59 · answer #2 · answered by Arjuna 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
We all have the capacity to be very intelligent, most of us do not take the time
To think about things, as we are so busy with our everyday lives.
These days the word genius gets bandied around much to easily.
A true genius , from any given field, will have arrived at an idea which is so stupefyingly original it will beggar belief.
A M P.
2006-09-24 03:55:54 · answer #3 · answered by A M P 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Being a genius, in my opinion, implies that you've contributed to society somehow with an intelligent project or theory, whether through a mere award-winning science fair project or through a major breakthrough in technology. Being intelligent just means you have the potential to do those great things, but once you do them, like solve the most difficult math equations or master the guitar, you are known to others as a "genius" in the field. You can be a genius in anything, from mathematics to angelology.
2006-09-24 02:51:52 · answer #4 · answered by Display Name 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well Albert Einstein described genius as 99% perspiration and 1% inspiration. So I am assuming the person that not only has the intelligence but the vision and determination to follow through with the unexplained or undiscovered. I think they must also be a tad eccentric or insane though to live outside the perimeters of normal reality.
2006-09-24 07:12:46 · answer #5 · answered by Emma O 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Based on what i've seen from various IQ test organisations its just a certain number, usually about the 140s.
Mentally its a gap on how your brain works with complex relations and concepts. Someone who is highly intelligent can work from a common perspective and then solve the problem while a genius would probably be more prone to moments where things just click together with no real effort.
Although it does have a downside that when you start to see the more complex more clearly you tend to have difficulty identifying the more obvious.
2006-09-24 02:46:39 · answer #6 · answered by neorapsta 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
genius at what, the most intellegent person i have ever met ,and i do mean very clever, could not tie his own shoelaces.
do not assume that if society has labelled someone a genius, that does not mean that he knows all, what it means is that he may have the intelligence to work out the problem , Einstien is/was a perfect example, it also depends on your point of view, some say bill gates is a genius, stephen hawkings, two very different people two very different applications of genius. regards lf
2006-09-24 23:58:27 · answer #7 · answered by lefang 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Original thought.
Genius is usually attributed to people who develop or invent things which fills a vacuum previously unexplored or explained.
There are a lot of very intelligent people. There are very few people who do more than understand existing knowledge of the human race.
It is usually a posthumous attribution. Someone working in the field currently is unlikely to be attributed with the status "genius" due to professional corruption.
2006-09-24 02:52:17 · answer #8 · answered by James 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
A genius is always a pioneer; an intelligent person is just someone who can keep up with the genius.
2006-09-24 21:56:45 · answer #9 · answered by maggie 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I do not know if I can discriminate between the the genius and the intellectual. I do, however, come across people who know an awful lot of things and seem to make patterns of words, but they never seem to synthesise their knowledge into anything useful. Maybe their cognition does not match their intellect. Then there are the people who can see but can't explain. Then there are those who are narrow-minded and those who choose to focus their attention on a narrow beam to find a solution.
Is there an original thought out there?
2006-09-24 05:40:46 · answer #10 · answered by Perseus 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋