What is a genius? Think about the most well-known (supposed) “geniuses” of our time such as Albert Einstein, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Mozart, and so on. Over the past several years, an ongoing debate has taken place that tackles controversies that are surrounding the concept of “genius”, which eventually expands into the extensive debate over nature versus nurture. The thing is though, there is no such thing as a “genius”. What sets these so-called “geniuses” apart from everyone else is the environment that they're in, the opportunities they receive, the passion they have for what they’re doing, the amount of support they receive from the people that surround them, persistence, time, and chance.
When diving deeper into the issues and conflicts surrounding being a “genius”, the first problem that is often faced is definitional. The everyday usage of “genius” according to Chris Weller from medicaldaily.com is, “it can be used to describe a brilliant stroke of insight, such as a Eureka! Moment; it can describe a long, methodically studied body of work that ends in a game-changing conclusion; or it can describe the person who experiences either or both of these phenomena”. We live in an age where the term “genius” is such a loose word that we use to fulfill our desire to recognize one’s greatness and achievements. For example, modern-day media often uses “genius” to describe someone who has won awards such as a gold medalist or an EGOT recipient. Media also uses it to describe someone such as a “child prodigy” who excels in a given field. Taking a look beyond the media aspect, MENSA uses the word “genius” to describe someone with a high IQ. In contrast to that, an everyday scenario where the word is used includes parents often throw around the word “genius” and use it to describe their “gifted” child who has a reading level that is “above” their grade level. The overuse of the word “genius” plus the lack of a single definition of the expression suggest that anyone could be a genius. Thus, if anyone could be a genius then geniuses aren't real and the word that allowed people able to sort and categorize people and acknowledge one's achievements loses all meaning. No matter what the situation is, just like the tooth fairy, geniuses are nonexistent.
The world’s two most well known people involved in the technology industry include Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. Both of these men are often described as a “genius” because of the technological advances that they made. Starting off with Bill Gates, he is the founder of Microsoft and an American business magnate. He is also one of the richest people in the world and a perfect example of a man with the right idea at the right place at the right time. From the start, Bill Gates was always an academically strong person and was given the opportunity to start experimenting and working with computers at the age of thirteen. This is because in 1968, his Mothers’ Club at Lakeside School became one of the only schools in the nation to have a computer at the time. Therefore, Bill Gates’ success in technology is an outcome of his early exposure to computers, computer program, and his curiosity. This goes to show that Bill Gates is not a genius. He is a man who pursued his curiosities and on the off chance was given the opportunity to further his knowledge and understanding on technology.
Just like Bill Gates isn’t a genius, neither is Steve Jobs. To sum it up, Steve Jobs was able to put two and two together to co founded one of the most popular technology companies in the world, Apple. Calling him a “genius” is pretty far fetched because even though he did recognize that people were beginning to not want to carry as many devices and came up with the notion that computers could potentially be household items, he didn't necessarily “invent” anything. What he did do was steal ideas and concepts from Xerox PARC and also kept recycling the same ideas so he would be able to sell the same product with minimal “improvements” for more money. Such as the iPhone. Also, there is nothing saying that he was the only one to recognize the need in society for such technologic products. Although, what is for sure is that he was given the opportunity to elaborate on his ideas and the opportunity to “fix” the issues, which would help him satisfy the people’s need helping him gain recognition and fame. As time has gone on, Apple has failed to meet the needs of the consumers when it comes to their products. For example, an iPhone with a longer battery life and headphone jack is in demand, but instead of satisfying the consumer’s need, Apple ignores their wants and produces an overpriced phone that isn’t anything out of the ordinary. Overall Steve Jobs was not a genius, neither was not the first person to put two and two together. He was simply a man who saw the bigger picture and knew how to successfully market his arguably unoriginal products.
Just because there is no such thing as a “genius” doesn’t mean that there is no such thing as a person who has talent and excels in a certain area. An example of this is Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, even though some would argue that music, which is a form of art, is subjective and is hard to distinguish the good from the greats in light of the fact that it is so opinion based. In the literary works of Amadeus by Peter Shaffer, Mozart is depicted as this musician who seemed to have been chosen by God himself to be his voice. This upset fellow musician and composer Antonio Salieri because he felt that he instead of obtaining the musicality that would enable him to be one of the greatest musicians ever, he obtained the ability to distinguish the good from the greats and Mozart was one of the greats. Even though Salieri was more famous than Mozart during the time of their existence, Mozart ended up having a legacy that would portray him as a “genius” for years to come, which is such nonsense. Compared to Salieri, Mozart had the upper hand throughout his career. Music is a language of its own and is better when learned at a young age when the mind is still developing. Mozart was very well-traveled in comparison to Salieri who wasn't. In addition to this, not only did Mozart have the opportunity to start learning music at such a young age unlike Salieri, he also had a father who was a music teacher who supported him and pushed Mozart to be the best. This also assisted with supporting the theory that one’s talent is not nature, it’s nurture.
Albert Einstein is one of the most famous people in the world who is best known for his theory of relativity and the equation E=MC2. Not to mention, he has been called a genius by hundreds of thousands of people. The thing is though even Albert Einstein is a genius. In fact, according to the family maid, Einstein was quite unexceptional. Albert Einstein was born to Pauline Einstein and Hermann Einstein who was an engineer and salesman. Albert Einstein’s father is known to be the person who helped ignite his son’s curiosity and love for science after showing him a pocket compass. Later on in his life, when applying to Zurich Polytechnic (a very selective university in Switzerland for math, science, technology, and engineering) Albert Einstein failed the general part of the entry test that he had to take. He was only accepted because of his high physics and math scores. According to the Guardian.com “He struggled at work initially, failing to get academic post and being passed over for promotion at the Swiss Patent Office because he wasn't good enough at machine technology. But he kept plugging away and eventually rewrote the laws of Newtonian mechanics with his theory of relativity.” Albert Einstein invested over ten years of his life into thinking about the problems before he published the general theory of relativity. His accomplishments and how they came to be help emphasize how there’s no such thing as geniuses. From childhood, he was exposed to science at an early age and was able to pursue his newfound passion with the support of his parents. As previously stated, perseverance and time have a lot to do with success and Albert Einstein proves that by his time in college. He dedicated his time and efforts to improving and also spent multiple years focusing on the thing he would later on gain recognition for. As Malcolm Gladwell once said,
“The 10,000-hours rule says that if you look at any kind of cognitively complex field, from playing chess to being a neurosurgeon, we see this incredibly consistent pattern that you cannot be good at that unless you practice for 10,000 hours, which is roughly ten years, if you think about four hours a day.”
Although Albert Einstein was clearly an intelligent man who by chance was raised in a family of science, was admitted to one of the top universities in the world for what he wanted to pursue, and put in the time and effort to accomplish what he did, he is still not a genius. In fact he too doesn’t even believe he’s a genius. He even once wrote: “It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer. Most people say that is intellect which makes a great scientist. They are wrong: it is character.”
Ultimately there is no such thing as a genius. Another way of looking at it is that “genius” is a social construct designed to benefit those with the greatest of curiosities. What sets apart the good from the greats are the environment they're in, the opportunities they receive, the passion they have for what they’re doing, the amount of support they receive from the people around them, persistence, time, and chance. So in the end, whatever passion of curiosity you have, chase it, build on it, pursue it, and whatever happens happens. For all you know, you may end up pursuing your passion/curiosity at the right place, at the right time, which could lead to you doing something amazing. Stay curious.