Living in a one-dimensional world.

The world is not what it used to be. Or, more specifically, PEOPLE are not what they used to be. It doesn't take much reading of history to note something odd about the people recorded there: many of them seem so much more diverse and capable than the typical modern human. Today, the world is peopled by one dimensional beings, able to do one thing, if that. Yesteryear, on the other hand, was made up of people of multiplicitous talents. They lived very diverse lives, excelling at many different things.

Perhaps I should remind you of the likes of the men of the past, that we no longer have. Copernicus, for instance, of the Heliocentric theory of the solar system, was, according to Wikipedia, a mathematician, astronomer, physician, quadrilingual polyglot, classical scholar, translator, artist, Catholic cleric, jurist, governor, military leader, diplomat and economist. Wikipedia notes that Leonardo da Vinci was a painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, botanist and writer. Benjamin Franklin is remembered as a leading author, political theorist, politician, printer, scientist, inventor, civic activist, publisher and diplomat. Thomas Jefferson was a philosopher, author, lawyer, architect, musician, naturalist, botanist, inventor, engineer, statesman, diplomat, and political theorist - oh, and President of the United States.

Modern eminences, on the other hand, are, generally, one dimensional people. They are pop stars, who often don't write their own songs, but specialize in performing them. They are academics, so specialized that the readership of their target journals is measured in hundreds and their articles are only of relevance to a dozen people. They focus their entire lives on the tiniest corners of human knowledge and make the merest increments of progress. They are writers who, typically, cultivate one type of story line - the horror writer, the science fiction author, the vampire tale spinner, and so on - and do nothing else. They are actors, many of whom do only one type of role: the action hero, the bumbling oaf, the person with a dark secret etc. They are lawyers, who spend their lives dealing with one kind of argument on behalf of one type of client, all their lives long. They are TV presenters whose highest skill is insincerity and an easy smile. This is the world we live in. A world dominated by what would once have been seen as slivers of people, with mere suggestions of ability. Diversity of careers are not only absent, but discouraged. It is frowned upon to step outside of the domain for which one initially becomes known. An actor may not write without being viewed with some amusement; a scientist may not paint without eliciting smirks and frowns; a businessman may not be a poet, without people talking behind his back, in unflattering terms. Nowadays, everyone must safely be placed in a box with but a single label - clear, readily understood, almost stereotypical. People who wish to step outside of such constraints find that the modern world really resists them. The academic known in one field, who wishes to publish in another, may find a cool reception - or even open hostility that he should dare to speak of matters on which he is "unqualified" (as if a particular piece of paper is needed to allow anyone to think). The pop star who acts, is just not taken seriously, even if his or her performances are decent. Indeed, to stray into any field outside of the one in which one has become initially established is to evoke anything from coldness, to hostility, to being shunned, ignored or just met with amusement. There is the feeling that only those who have devoted their entire lives to a particular pursuit have a rightful place in it. Yet, this is absurdly not true. Any creative and intelligent person may be able to contribute to any area of human life, given the chance to do so. It is just that in the modern world, few are given such a chance because of the dominant belief that one must specialize in one thing and one thing alone.

Given the narrowness of modern life, in the sense that diversity of activity is difficult to achieve and is actively resisted by the society, I would say that few modern people are as interesting as the most interesting people of the past. Modern men are shallow and narrow, in experience, outlook and understanding. They each carry the smallest piece of the world around with them and that, perhaps, explains much that is wrong with this world. There are many things which become more difficult to achieve, when everyone is so narrow in their views and understandings.

I would like to see an end to the one dimensional world we live in, and a return to more plural, multi-dimensional times. Unfortunately, I do wonder if modern people have the intellectual substance to be able to do such a thing. It may be that such people are too uncommon, nowadays, for such a diverse culture to ever prevail again. We can, however, but live in hope.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 6 and Tiarnan, 4, this month, please go to:
http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at: http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/
Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/
Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is at http://www.genghiscan.com/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)

On the ordinary and the extraodinary.

He Pingping, the shortest man in the world (at 75.6 cm) has died. He was just 21. Now, he is the second person to die, within a year of shooting a series in which Ainan also appears. The other was Kim Peek. That is pretty uncanny in its own way. Yet, that is not what moves me to write, today. What does is more chilling, than uncanny.

I came across a site, today, reporting on the death of He Pingping. One comment leapt out at me. It went a bit like this: "It's awful that these "different and unusual" people get to be rich and famous, when us "normal" hardworking people find it almost impossible to become rich and famous". I could barely believe my eyes. The young man had just died, but some commenter was expressing jealousy at his fame and how it was acquired. What a callous world we now live in. Let us, however, look beyond the callousness, to the core of what the commenter is saying. He is saying that "different and unusual" people should not be famous, but that "normal" hardworking people should be. He is actually begrudging the fame that attends difference. That he does so, shows that he fails to understand what fame, traditionally, was a sign of. To be famous, was to be special, in the sense that one is famous because one is special, and not special because one is famous. There is a key distinction there that is usually overlooked in the modern world. It used to be that ONLY special people became famous - that is why they became noted, talked about, written of and ultimately famous. Now, however, there has been a subversion of that. The ordinary, undistinguished, uninteresting, even BORING person, can become famous through reality shows, and the like. Fame has lost its connection with distinction. Yet, the commenter goes beyond the modern fetish for the ordinary and the dull - he is saying that it is the ORDINARY person who should be famous and NOT the special person. This goes one step beyond the present state of affairs in which not only can the special person become famous, but the ordinary person, too. He would have it that only the "normal" person should be famed and that the "different" or "unusual" would not be given any regard at all. This, I think, is a kind of madness. It is the ultimate end of dumbing down the world in which standards become ever lower. His standard would not allow the special any regard, at all - and only those UNWORTHY of regard, would be regarded. It is, if you like, the ultimate revenge of the proletariat over the natural aristocrats. It is the elevation of the idiot, to the highest status in society: that the utterly ordinary should be held in the highest regard and the extraordinary ignored. It is, of course, bonkers - but it is the logical end of those who think jealous thoughts that would tear down anyone or anything greater than themselves.

Yet, I am led to a darker understanding. The world we now live in is not so far from the world which this envious commenter would wish upon us. Now, people of great quality do not necessarily receive the recognition that would once have been theirs. The heroes of our time are not geniuses, but footballers, pop stars and "glamour" models. Already the elevation of the ordinary has proceeded to overwhelm our society. If present trends continue, it may not be long, indeed, before we become a world incapable of appreciating the best among us and only able to praise the lowest common denominator, the basest among us all.

Were fame apportioned with justice, many of the "names" today, would not be known and many people of which we have never heard, would be household names. The scales have become inverted such that those of least merit, often gain most attention, perhaps because the masses are comforted by their closeness to themselves in talent and natural gifts - that is little or none. Yet, for some, at least, even this situation has not gone far enough. One man today, begrudged the fame of a man who had just died, because his fame had come from his difference. Think about that, for a moment. What a life He Pingping must have lived, in which he was set apart from all, because of his size, yet he may have encountered people who resented the little compensatory fame, it won him.
Given this, one cannot help but feel that not only is the culture of the world in decline (for making famous the worthless, and making unknown the worthy), but that the people themselves are in decline.

Towards a greener Malaysia.

Malaysia is a green and beautiful country. It is also one which aspires to be green in the modern sense of the world: its politicians speak of leading the world in creating a green society. Now, this is most admirable, but is it true of Malaysia on the ground? Is there anything not being done that should be done?

Well, yesterday, I saw something I have frequently seen in Malaysia: a vehicle spewing black clouds of smoke out the back of its exhaust. In this case it was a bus, WAJ 5268, if I remember correctly. The clouds of smoke were so thick as to threaten to obscure the vehicle itself. I found myself disgusted with the vehicle's owner: how could they drive such a polluting bus around? Why didn't they service the engine? This bus alone must be producing the equivalent pollution of hundreds or thousands of other vehicles. It was obscene. Yet, it is not alone. Malaysia is defiled by tens of thousands of such vehicles. That is something which must change.

I am impressed with the publicly expressed intentions of Malaysia's leaders to move towards a green society, one that other nations might aspire to be like. It is a good aim. However, they are overlooking problems on the ground which could easily be corrected. There should not be thousands of heavily polluting vehicles in Malaysia, there should not even be one. Getting rid of them would be easy to do. Every time a policeman sees such vehicle the driver should be stopped and the vehicle impounded. The owner should then be given a choice: pay for the repairs to the vehicle - upfront - or have the vehicle scrapped and recycled - with no compensation. Furthermore, the owner should be fined for being in possession of such a polluting vehicle. Were this regime to be implemented the air around KL would become a lot cleaner in a matter of weeks.

The first step to the solution of a problem is its recognition. I have have done that. The next step is to structure penalties - and enforce them - to eliminate the behaviour. It is not difficult and would be another good step on the green pathway that Malaysia has, very vocally, chosen for itself. I hope that it is a step that is soon taken, for I tire of breathing clouds of venomous smoke, on KL's roads.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 6 and Tiarnan, 4, this month, please go to:
http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at: http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/
Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/
Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is at http://www.genghiscan.com/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)