This is a profoundly informative, and also a profoundly disturbing book.
True geniuses are presented as humans who are quite different from normal people, even if the normal person is extremely intelligent.
A genius is driven by his own internal needs and drives to solve a problem or create an entirely new invention. Geniuses, known and unknown, created the civilization and technology in which we live, although their discoveries are extended and implemented by non-geniuses. Without geniuses, all progress would stop, and civilization would likely deteriorate drastically.
But, there is a price to be paid for genius. The true genius is difficult to endure socially, and generally does not conform to social or organizational standards. Thus, to support genius, there has to be an explicit or implicit support by the society for the genius, who is not only often unpleasant to be around, but acts as a short-term liability for the people or organization he is affiliated with. A society without the ability and willingness to support a genius in some way will not see progress.
There are multiple pressures militating against the presence of geniuses today. One is the way society is organized: run by bureaucracies laden by formal rules and by mediocre bureaucratic officials who do not have the ability to act outside the rules for the greater good. Another pressure against geniuses is the general genetic deterioration for intelligence and personality traits necessary for genius. Why is there a genetic deterioration in our society? Because there is a significant mutation rate in all genes, and if there is not an environmental pressure to select against harmful mutations, they accumulate very quickly, lowering the quality of the population over time.
In other words, if someone is born without the ability to perform even a simple productive task, such as plumbing, he is still able to live and reproduce through welfare or disability payments. Before about 1800, an individual unable to contribute would likely not live very long, and certainly would not have children, or at least children who would live very long. The genetic defects accumulate very quickly if the individuals with the damaged genes are able to procreate.
So, the thesis of the Genius Famine is that the general decline in intelligence and productive personality traits, makes the appearance of genius less likely over time.
The section of the book on religion is actually the weakest and least factually-supported part of the book. The idea is, religion encourages traits likely to support the genius in his quest to solve a problem, and that the society which has rejected religion encourages unhealthy distractions likely to interfere with either the ability of the genius to produce his solution, or the desire of the genius to engage in productive, rather than destructive, work. This thesis concerning religion is certainly plausible, but is not supported by evidence as the other parts of the book are.
If the trends described in the book are true, we can expect to see a rapid, dramatic, and possibly irreversible deterioration in Western civilization with respect to science, technology, social organization, and possibly the ability to even maintain its people with enough food. This is why I say the book is disturbing. However, without knowledge, there is no ability to remedy a problem. I say, read the book, understand the abyss we are facing, and get to work on finding some part of the solution.
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Amazing holy miracle of a book.
One of the most important books ever written. I immediately read chapter 12 and 13 and I have never read anything so important for the future of life. And I only read 2 chapters on a whim (not going to let a book structure affect my thinking, I just realized LOL - a major characteristic of the subject of the book). It was like they were speaking my life. I have said many times that I came here to be myself and everything unfortunately has been set up against people like me. Society made no place for me. I don’t live in a shack in the woods, but I do live in my car and have lived in my car for 2 years now while I continue to write ideas which ARE world-changing. World-saving. One of the reasons I left graduate school in behavioral neuroscience and evolutionary psychology after 4.5 years is because they were wrong: not just my school, everyone. What can you do when the masses are the litmus of what is “smart”? They don’t understand you, and they don’t understand why they should. They project how they see the world on you, when the difference across these levels is like a logarithmic scale. It’s seismic. An appropriate metaphor. They are planetary personalities orbiting the sun of creation. So delicate in sensitivity and vision and so important for everyone. They should be considered as the only true wealth, manifestations of the human life-force itself.I took a picture of the book in my car where I work to save humankind from themselves. Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart. This is a holy book. You are saviors of the world. I will write more once I read the rest of the chapters. Thanks again.
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Reviewed in the United States on October 4, 2017
Reviewed in the United States on December 2, 2021
One of the most important books ever written. I immediately read chapter 12 and 13 and I have never read anything so important for the future of life. And I only read 2 chapters on a whim (not going to let a book structure affect my thinking, I just realized LOL - a major characteristic of the subject of the book). It was like they were speaking my life. I have said many times that I came here to be myself and everything unfortunately has been set up against people like me. Society made no place for me. I don’t live in a shack in the woods, but I do live in my car and have lived in my car for 2 years now while I continue to write ideas which ARE world-changing. World-saving. One of the reasons I left graduate school in behavioral neuroscience and evolutionary psychology after 4.5 years is because they were wrong: not just my school, everyone. What can you do when the masses are the litmus of what is “smart”? They don’t understand you, and they don’t understand why they should. They project how they see the world on you, when the difference across these levels is like a logarithmic scale. It’s seismic. An appropriate metaphor. They are planetary personalities orbiting the sun of creation. So delicate in sensitivity and vision and so important for everyone. They should be considered as the only true wealth, manifestations of the human life-force itself.
I took a picture of the book in my car where I work to save humankind from themselves. Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart. This is a holy book. You are saviors of the world. I will write more once I read the rest of the chapters. Thanks again.
I took a picture of the book in my car where I work to save humankind from themselves. Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart. This is a holy book. You are saviors of the world. I will write more once I read the rest of the chapters. Thanks again.
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Reviewed in the United States on December 21, 2020
Reviewed in the United States on October 20, 2018
Reviewed in the United States on July 4, 2018
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