"There is a fine line between genius and insanity" said Oscar Levant. "I have erased that line."
Now we may know why.
Copyright © 2009 by The Atlantic Monthly Group. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2009 by The Atlantic Monthly Group. All rights reserved.
This comment has been deleted for profanity and trolling.
Why is it that people who otherwise do not think highly of ecology tend to attribute a lot of our character to genes?
That does not explain ancient Athens to me? There lived fewer literate Athenians in total than there are people living in Bristol today... and yet they have given us.. more than we can comprehend today?
I believe that it was predominantly cultural and not genetic. The Greeks themselves (in contrast to the Jews and other cultures at the time) believed their "genius" to be cultural and not genetic. Once your mental programming has grown too many roots it is hard to exploit the plasticity of the our brains but in theory - any barbarian could become Greek?
Non-linear non-specialist thinking was promoted as something to strive for? It was more about arete - how one approaches a topic and not what the topic per se is. consilience vs specialization was NOT an either or for the Greeks - it was either both or nothing?
of course nature has something to say - but it is nurture that makes it count? As Edith Hamilton claims in her insanely great introduction to The Greek Way, rarely have we reached such a balance between materialism and transcendentalism.. rarely such as balance between going inward (thinking) and outward (observation). Rarely was a society carried by so few vital lies?
The Greeks, Hamilton speculates intelligently, were most different from other cultures as they seemed to seek the unity between everything first, the smallest common dominator, and only then did they care about the differences?
As Socrates predicted in The Republic - this constellation cannot last for every. But there is no reason why we could not reach a similar enlightenment period again today? This time for more than 300 years? I believe that we are on the way! We just have to prevent ecological party poopers?
It's a crock. There are artists who are madmen. There are artists who are sane. You don't learn about art by studying something else.
Jeffrey
You don't learn about art by studying something else.
Tell this to an Ancient Greek? I think that we can learn something about economics by studying psychology and I thing that the wonders of consilience work in every other respect as well? I don't know what Jazz has done to Mr Greenspan but i am sure it has touched him beyond music (understanding the human condition)?
But I do not believe that taking all artists or investment banker and pinpointing a particular gene for creativity or risk taking alone explains a phenomena? After all - even when we pinpoint genes that influence our character - they account for only half or nurture's influence? Intel might be better than AMD but the overall prowess of the computer system depends even more on the software after certain sophistication?
Purebred dogs by definition (inbreeding) have genetically smaller brains and intelligence than wolves or mutts.. and yet - depending on how they are raised and grow up - they can be more or less creative problem solvers? A "welfare" dog who does not have to work for his food but gets a jackpot every day is usually rather dull?
If you are thought knowledge (given answers) rather than being thought the process of self-discovery (asking questions).. we end up with what?
buy canada in viagra