Failed genius?

Discussion in 'Human Science' started by Magical Realist, Nov 8, 2014.

  1. Magical Realist Valued Senior Member

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    "Kim Ung-yong is a 48-year-old former child-prodigy who pushed the envelope on IQ at 210, getting a mention on the Guinness Book of World Records. But his life has been anything but “genius”. He’s had a pretty ordinary life. Still, he considers himself a success despite the lack of telltale (extraordinary) material or academic trappings.

    He displayed amazing feats of intelligence shortly after his birth: speaking at four months, conversing fluently by six months, reading Korean, Japanese, German and English by 24 months. And by the time he was at the pre-school age of four, he was a celebrity solving complex calculus problems on Japanese television. Even in early childhood, he began to write poetry and was an amazing painter. Kim was a guest student of physics at Hanyang University from the age of three until he was six.

    At the age of eight, the child was invited by America’s NASA and conducted research work for 10 years. He also received a Ph.D in physics at Colorado State University. But by 1978, he was burnt out and returned to his homeland. He surprised everyone by switching to civil engineering and later chose to work in a business planning department at Chungbuk Development Corporation.

    The Korean media soon denounced him a “failed genius”.

    But for so-called failed genius Kim Ung-yong, his life is anything but a failure. He’s happy to be an ordinary company worker, he said. He’s happy with his station in life and exactly the way he is.

    "Apparently, the media belittled the fact that I chose to work in a business planning department at Chungbuk Development Corporation," Kim said regrettably.

    "People expected me to become a high-ranking official in the government or a big company, but I don’t think just because I chose not to become the expected it gives anyone a right to call anyone’s life a failure," he explained.

    Kim says his life is a great success and we agree that to the extent he has found his bliss, he surely is a successful man.

    Indeed, at the end, isn’t that what we’re all ultimately after? Everything else is mere empty prop."===http://heuna.tumblr.com/post/2415073898/kim-ung-yong-a-child-prodigy-but-happiness-beats
     
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  3. cosmictraveler Be kind to yourself always. Valued Senior Member

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    In the end I hope to die peacefully in my sleep. As far as what I did in life it really doesn't matter to anyone but me. I've been given awards, medals and ribbons for some of my accomplishments but I never asked for any of them and really didn't want them at all. They can take all of those things and throw them out the window for who I helped gave me much more of a good feeling than what I did working.
     
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  5. Repo Man Valued Senior Member

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    "Whenever I start thinking that I am not living up to my potential, I remind myself of the old farmer and his fight to the death with the insane pig. It's an exciting story, and it takes my mind off all this 'potential' business." - Jack Handey
     
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  7. Enmos Valued Senior Member

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    What are your thoughts on this, MR?
    Or do you just find your happiness in a copy-paste job well done...?
     
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  8. origin Heading towards oblivion Valued Senior Member

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    Good old Jack, he always puts things into perspective.

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  9. Magical Realist Valued Senior Member

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    I agree with the article that the genius is a success if he does what makes him feel happy. Is that enough? Did I pass the test?
     
  10. Magical Realist Valued Senior Member

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    I also think that "the genius" is largely a social construct, a value-laden ideal, that we learned to accept in school. History afterall is made by this geniuses who discover new theories and invent new technologies, right? But I think one can be a genius and not accomplish anything noteworthy. There may very well be guys with higher IQs than Einstein who work in comic book shops and live in urban efficiency apts. We need to accept that a person's mind is totally their own and is not some workhorse to be used for society to better itself with.
     
  11. river

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    Genius is not a social construct , they can really see , understand , and put two and two together and then extrapolate the consequence , in ways that the general population just simply cannot grasp

    And some geniuses fall through the cracks
     
  12. Enmos Valued Senior Member

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    Probably a lot.
     
  13. sideshowbob Sorry, wrong number. Valued Senior Member

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    Apparently most of the members of Mensa.

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    I've often thought that we should provide helpers for the "intellectually gifted" to take care of the mundane tasks like finding jobs, etc. so that the intellectual gifts could be used for loftier purposes.

    But what do I know?
     
  14. Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

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    I suppose from a strictly personal perspective that's a satisfactory definition of "success." But since Homo sapiens is a social species and has, in the past few millennia, established a global civilization that advances more-or-less steadily with occasional backslides, I suggest that the definition of "success" is: you gave back more to civilization than you took from it, thereby contributing to its advance.
     
  15. iceaura Valued Senior Member

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    Hmmm.

    Contrast: Or as we are on the topic of failed genius, a non-contributor to his civilization, here's a Hollywood movie quote from a (probably) very intelligent scriptwriter, put in the mouth of an underperforming genius being pressured to contribute more to his civilization:
     
  16. sculptor Valued Senior Member

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    Many people have different savants, strengths, superior abilities,etc... The ability to see pattern where others see only noise and chaos can be a detriment or curse as well as a blessing.
    We do not live in a meritocracy, and that makes all the difference.
    Define success, then we all die.
     
  17. Landau Roof Registered Senior Member

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    Success is having what you want. Happiness is wanting what you have. (Hope you're mistaken about that 'we all die' bit)
     
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  18. sculptor Valued Senior Member

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    Very Zen Landau.

    (not today, anyway)
     
    Last edited: Nov 12, 2014
  19. Photizo Ambassador/Envoy Valued Senior Member

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    No, you failed miserably. Selfishness is not success. Lying/self deceit is the 'icing' on said cake. Success is unattainable without genuine love for God, the ultimate act of selflessness to be flawlessly mirrored by those created in the Image of the One Who expresses Love/selflessness perfectly...under current existing conditions, this is humanly impossible.
     
  20. iceaura Valued Senior Member

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    Why is it that fundies so invariably confuse doing what makes you happy with being selfish?

    Two possibilities: 1) they believe selfishness makes one happy 2) they believe happiness is a characteristic sign of having acted selfishly.

    Option 2 there disturbs - since, if they are projecting their own mental dysfunctions unto others as people blind to them tend to, they will set out to both prevent people from seeking happiness and encourage selfish behaviors that lead to unhappiness: and they are a powerful political faction in the US.
     
  21. Landau Roof Registered Senior Member

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    If you meet a zen master on the road. Don't say 'yes'. Don't say 'no'. Rather give him a sudden uppercut to the jaw, and you will be called one who understands zen.
     
  22. sculptor Valued Senior Member

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    ...from the chan school of sudden enlightenment?
     
  23. Photizo Ambassador/Envoy Valued Senior Member

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    Why is it you are continually shallow in your understanding?...because your prejudice/hatred/selfishness limit your comprehension. True happiness is the result of my previous comments. (You make known to me the paths of life; in your presence is fullness of joy; at thy right hand are pleasures forevermore.") The key to attaining this is the initiative of God Himself. Barring that, any happiness you think you attain is simply part and parcel of the deception enveloping your mind. Only those with a modicum of honesty understand that true happiness is unattainable and every attempt at approaching it merely an approximation...all such efforts are futile as they are ultimately unsatisfying.
     
    Last edited: Nov 12, 2014

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