do you think kids with aspergers or autism are more likely to be a genius, its possible but i think they just see different and get caught up in things. not as much genius as obsessed. Idk what do you think…
That is a good question. Are you thinking of the savants who have one unusual and amazing talent like virtuosic piano playing or remembering every baseball stat that ever was?
I hesitate to go too far in labeling people though. The mental health system has made the bounds of normality so narrow these days that I think a healthy dose of skepticism is needed sometimes. For example, I do not think Einstein had Asperger’s or anything else. From everything I’ve learned about him and from him, it seems to me that he evolved his consciousness wonderfully and always retained his humanity. That is probably the case for most people that fall into the clutches of the ever-fattening DSM manual, which of course makes certain profit interests very happy. It’s the sociopaths of greed and self-interest that I consider abnormal because they have lost their humanity and their hearts.
Genius is usually expressed in polymathy - being very good at a great number of things, rather than monomathy - being amazing at just one thing. So, no, you’re average savant is as dumb as a stump, it’s just that all that dumbness is poured into a very small, very bright shot-glass.
I always wanted to be a polymath, just like your average renaissance girl; but somehow I got sidetracked by plain old math. Lucky for me, though, I came across some wonderful polymath glass bead players who gave me a great conversational ride. No polyphobia for me, that’s for sure.
jonquil, the polymath wannabe
hahaha well really should a genius be good at lots of things… sounds like me im always good at new things, except studying… kills the soul. lol but im not so sure if im a genius i doubt it. i took plenty of iq test, my average was 154 highest 170 lowest like 148 i believe. but i don’t think iq test work so much.
It is a good idea to study some things. I think it would do you a lot of good to study English grammar, mechanics, sentence and paragraph structure. If you have a high iq, then you’ll pick it up in no time.
yeah. i am in college taking english but its a 3 hhour english class once a week. not the best with sitting too long lol. Like i said tho, i doubt i’m a genius. Mayb gifted. LOLOLOL YEah my grammar sucks so bad. BUt then again Einstein didnt talk til he was four right?
EDIT: Also i tend to not study and go out smoking pot, being a worthless scumbag.
Well, if a genius is someone who sees through red eyes and mangles up English grammar and mechanics when he writes, then you definitely qualify. But you bring up interesting ideas and questions, and you’re a good sport. That must count for something in the popularity sweepstakes anyway.
I guess I should say that mb posts in mangled English is one of my favorite pet peeves of all time. That’s because it takes a lot longer to read and breaks the contract with the reader on what to expect from written discourse.
People don’t realize how important that contract is sometimes, particularly the ones who hit the return button after nearly every sentence.
you now some would say i am popular, i was born 4/20 so they call me weed jesus… also my eyes get the most red out of everyone. AND i know i suck with grammar im workng on it. I never really learned how to construct a real sentence, essayy, or even paragraph haha
One great thing to do is called self-editing. Read back over what you write and make corrections. Then you would have knowticed how you spelled “now” instead of “know.” 
And I also nowticed that “essayy” with two y’s. It’s prolly more important with an extra y. lol
Haha… yeah my apologies. I was high. I get lazy when I’m coming down so I don’t bother with corrections or grammar.
Kuze,
I sympathize with the difficulty of sitting too long in class, and studying for long periods of time. That was a very big problem for me when I was in college.
I also understand your desire to have a secure ego which not only takes into account why you have the difficulties you do, but how you can possess those while also having your very intelligent, creative or whatever moments (IE how you can “be so ‘smart’” while also “being so ‘stupid’”.
I don’t know much about you, but a lot of what you’ve presented in this thread reminds me of ongoing experiences in my life (particularly when in college). I try to not let myself regret actions I made in the past (or a lack of actions that probably would’ve been beneficial to me now), but from time to time memories come up, and they sometimes result in pretty painful judgement of wasted time and lost opportunities–I make an effort to not dwell on something if nothing good can come out of it, and the memory quickly fades as long as I don’t indulge in a melodramatic “life has been so difficult (for a unique, misunderstood person like me)”, but these memories do pop up sometimes and they do sting.
So, just because I see (perhaps inaccurately) myself (especially 7-10 years ago) in you, I’m going to give you some advice that I would’ve given myself back then. I will make write some things (motivations, personal characteristics, etc.) that I see behind what you’ve written here. I’ll do so with respect, but I’m going to be upfront about it–I’m going to try to cut through some of the defense mechanisms (that are holding you back from your potential), so it may sting, but I’m not writing this to insult you.
First, it’s not really as simple as there being an inner being of “Genius” that most people don’t have and very few do. The definition is very vague, and it pretty much relies on social factors. In my mind, a “genius” is one whose actions (and resulting from those actions) are supported by a large group of people, in that some of the (genius) “works” are consciously adopted as not only valuable, but a fundamental necessity for some value. These actions are like bright lights in their corresponding area (those that are waste deep in “the waters”/the subject it pertains to consider it a necessity in understanding the whole/ocean). Basically, a genius “operates” in such a way that he is attributed to major changes/developments in some area that required mass approval–anyone who understands physics today knows how it followed from Newton, and how it followed from Einstein, any sociologist knows the impact from Marx, and anyone who knows of Nazi Germany knows those actions didn’t just arise due to a collective German mindset (Hitler didn’t just happen to be the guy who was put in charge of it), but because of Hitler’s actions.
So don’t make an effort to associate yourself with “Genius”. You may think “I was bored in school just like Einstein”, but that doesn’t mean a genius is always bored and unmotivated (totally opposite, when it comes to what they produce).
You say “I don’t write well but Einstein didn’t talk till he was four”. That statement is nothing but an excuse. It has no practical value whatsoever. I was horrible at writing when I entered college. I had to take a special writing class for students who didn’t do well enough on entry exams to take the basic English 101. I thought “this is so stupid, what a waste of time”, and maybe some things weren’t taught the best way (for me) that they could’ve been, but I worked hard, and once I got the hang of it I enjoyed writing well. Not only was my writing more clear, my mind was while writing it. Though I have long forgotten a lot of the formal names of types of words, and their rules, I have habituated good habits, and I think I’m a very skilled writer now. However, that skill still takes a lot of effort–I put a lot of time into ensuring what I write is coherent and logical.
You’re in college, you might as well take what you can from the situation. If you are not interested in your classes, or don’t think taking it can give you useful knowledge and tools, then you shouldn’t be taking them. School is too much money to not give it your all.
I know how uncomfortable it is staring at a book and struggling to hold your attention on it and feel you are actually taking in the information, and I know going to class can be a drag when you’re easily bored but moving at a snail’s pace but, unless you want to keep feeling like a “worthless scumbag”, even after you either drop out of school or half ass your way to graduation, you’re going to be in the “real” world with nothing but bad habits, no motivation and no planning and experience to get you a job you can be happy with. You’re going to frequently think of how you wasted your way through classes and opportunities when they were for the taking, and you’re going to feel like more of a loser than you ever would as you struggle to do an assignment for a class.
If it is really really hard to focus, and you feel you have tried everything already, you may want to see a doctor about medication to help you focus. I kind of wish I did back then.
Maybe the issue is just lack of dopamine. Dopamine has a big role in emotional reward, motivation, attention and language (language processing takes place in the frontal lobes, and a certain amount of dopamine in this area is necessary for the ongoing operation of the “executive function”, which one could describe as that which “manages” thought according to some goal). Lack of dopamine is extremely frustrating when it comes to studying, because the brain doesn’t “latch on” to the text; one repeatedly realizes that the words being read aren’t meaningful (because the brain isn’t processing them according to a preceding context). Lack of emotional reward and motivation makes one feel dissociation and incompatible with the studying–it feels like a useless bout of frustration.
Weed increases dopamine. I’m not saying “that’s good, use it”, as its effects are more complicated than that. Just saying, that’s why you use it so much, for the effects of emotional award, attention and motivation. You feel “alive”, and cognizant, when it hits you. However, any “epiphanies” you have (that you have never heard others explain), ought to be seen according to their chemical basis, rather than being true just because you emotionally deem its all-encompassingness as good. The problem is this offers everything the frustrations of trying to focus (difficulty studying) lacks, but the attention is just heightened in tiny moments (it has a very limited span)–the central executive isn’t really there much more than when sober. So then you keep going back and back. It’s a bad cycle.
All I can really say is you can keep doing what you do and just try to identify with geniuses when you aren’t taking a hit to make you feel like one, but nothing will come from that, and eventually you won’t get the same satisfaction, and then you’ll feel miserable.
If you have some kind of creative or intellectual potential you should actively work on it and try to direct your life to embrace it, and that requires overcoming your difficulties related to studying.
Don’t get the wrong idea I would say and others that I am arguably one of the most intuitive, and creative people. I procrastinated my whole life and I always thought… “eventually I’ll get good at it.” about my comment with Einstein I was just saying everyone has their weaknesses. I’m just creative. I am into figure drawing and maybe manga. I do feel what you said though. It really sounded like me, but I’m not just some fuck up. I’m just really lazy, no motivation, and there are reasons for that. You had good intentions but somewhere you must of felt threatened… maybe your ego. I could be wrong, ignore that if true. All an all yeah I’m the guy who wants to watch clouds under a tree on a warm sunny day. Maybe draw a picture and take a nap. But If you understood who I am you would get that a life lazy without any sense of duty is what I want most. When you stop doing what everyone says you’re supposed to do, you can only do what you’re supposed to do. What you’re meant to do.
I certainly didn’t mean to imply you were. I never thought that way.
No, I never felt threatened by anything you wrote in this thread.
I’m not saying you’re just overall bad or anything like that… as I said I related to what you wrote and was trying to describe it a way you may not be looking at.
Anyway, I’ll leave it at that.
Now this was well said and well written. Maybe you’re not so lazy after all. That certainly bodes well for your future creativity.
hahahahaha awww shucks stop… jk lol Yeah maybe I’m just too sensitive to focus. Somethings are fragile, people shouldn’t be an exception.
Well you were implying my excuse with Einstien… never mind yeah i felt I was wrong that’s why I wrote “if it is true…”
You can focus fine. Sensitivity is a big plus for that finetuned fragility that makes art out of a not so fine and sensitive world. It’s like creating a touch-me-not that everybody wishes they could touch and be touched by, a lovely thing.
Jonquil, you told him
Which I don’t think will be of much help to the guy.
It’s not like one either absolutely can focus fine or cannot focus fine. The extent of one’s focus on thing A at time B comes down to many, many factors. “Not trying to focus” isn’t the single reason for a lack of it.
I agree with Matt. Life is long, but it doesn’t really give you a very large window for procrastination. I came out of uni into a bad job market and basically said “oh well fuck it” and drifted. Lotta dope, lotta painting. I got quite good at it. The painting, not the dope. Good enough to introduce myself as ’ the painter’ rather than “the useless pot-head drifter”. But it was an ego-prop empty dream, and I knew it, even as I said it.
Anyway, I drifted and drifted until nearly five years had gone by and I was pretty much unemployable. Eventually, to drag myself out of the pit I’d smoked and bullshitted my way into, I had to leave the country and start a completely new life. The new life turned out fine, but it was a close run thing, I was lucky. I could equally have ended up back in the UK, no house, no job, no money, no girlfriend, no nothing. No life.
And btw. throughout this entire period, at least academically and abstractly, I remained as smart as fuck.
Being ‘as smart as fuck’ is of absolutely no use unless you have ambition and direction. Social and career smarts. Einstein was lucky, and Newton was already rich anyway - the gentleman scientist. The life-strategy of “something will happen to get me started if I wait and keep my options open” is a bit like sitting on a side-street in a slum area with your thumb stuck out hopefully, day after day, expecting to be picked up by the Queen (Gor’ bless 'er) one bright sunny morning.
ie. not very likely.
ie. Just stop kidding yourself and get your fucking arse in gear. Your friends aren’t helping either, a social circle which gives major kudos to someone whose ability to get the reddest eyes impresses them are a bunch of morons. Find some new ones, or go it alone. Stay away from the weed, it just makes you stupid. Go to the doc for some other chemical fix.
If this hurts your poor little feelings, quite frankly I couldn’t give a shit, and neither could the real world. Better hurt feelings than a utterly useless pat on the head and a ‘there-there’ from mommy. You are not a special flower, maybe you will be, one day, but not as you are now, right now, you’re heading straight to the trailer park. I’d suggest one with air-conditioning, but you might not be able to afford it.