On having a public voice.

Some of the world’s most interesting people have the least opportunity to say what they think.

I thought I should let that thought stand alone, for awhile, to settle in. By this thought, I mean that, often in the modern world, the people we empower with a public voice, are not the most interesting, or the most intelligent of people...yet they are the ones we end up listening to, in all their vapidity. The whole situation strikes me as particularly dim, for what it does to the level of public discourse. In particular, I think of all the missed opportunities we all, as a society, have to learn from those who would be most interesting to listen to.

In our world, it is often the celebrity that is heard above all voices. Yet, what makes a celebrity? Is it intelligence? Often not. Is it genius? Almost certainly not. Is it taste? Questionable. Is it insight? Hardly. Why then do we listen to celebrities? Because they are the ones who get to speak their "thoughts" to us.

I have quite a lot to say, on many things. I also have a lot to say that I have never had the chance to say - because it hasn't been permitted in public - it hasn't been given the nod, to be published. Yet, my reach is small. I have a blog and I have intermittent newspaper articles in one South East Asian country. My thoughts do not have global reach. Yet, I can't help but feel that not a few of those thoughts are more worthy of such reach, than the words of many celebrities, in this world. They speak, and all the world hears...yet what they say, is hardly ever worth the utterance.

It is strange, how a public voice is accorded. It is not done on merit. It is done almost magically. The person who ends up with the loudest public voice, is not the one whose thoughts are of most worth - but whose PERSONALITY, attracts most interest, or, indeed, who is just damn good looking. (Which is, of course, the only thing some celebrities offer). 

I would like to see a world in which the most interesting people, the ones whose thoughts are measured carefully and crafted well, are also the ones we most tend to hear and listen to. That is not our present world. We live in a world in which the trivial receives most attention and the profound is often ignored. That is not a healthy world. It is a world in which the Mind of Man, is slowly dying, as a corporate entity - the group of us all, thinking.

I invite you to consider who it is, you hear in public. Notice that often the quality of the mind, does not match the quality of the opportunity. Too often mediocre minds, have a great opportunity to speak - and brilliant minds have too little a chance to be heard.

Of course, most people don't even realize how often the best of Man, get few opportunities to be considered, by the public. The masses are too busy hearing out, those they should not bother to hear at all.

Perhaps, in a way, it is the choice of the public. Perhaps the public prefers to listen to people like the average person. Perhaps they don't want to hear, ever, what the best of thinkers, have to say. Perhaps such thoughts are regarded as unacceptable, or perhaps incomprehensible, in some way. Even so, there should not be a relative silence, by those most able to speak. Their thoughts should be part of the public discourse; their views should have the chance to be heard.

We all lose out when it is not the best of us, who are given the chance to speak. We lose nothing, if mediocrities were to be silenced, instead. However, I doubt they ever will be. The mediocre, shall dominate the media, forevermore. In the meantime, the profound shall watch from the sidelines, knowing all, telling none, for want of the opportunity to do so.

If we want a better world, all we have to do, as a mass, is to listen to the quieter voices, who have much more to say, than we have ever given them the chance to do so. 

Posted by Valentine Cawley

(If you would like to support my continued writing of this blog and my ongoing campaign to raise awareness about giftedness and all issues pertaining to it, please donate, by clicking on the gold button to the left of the page.

To read about my fundraising campaign, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-in-support-of-my.html and here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-first-donation.html

If you would like to read any of our scientific research papers, there are links to some of them, here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/02/research-papers-by-valentine-cawley-and.html

If you would like to see an online summary of my academic achievements to date, please go here: http://www.getcited.org/mbrz/11136175To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 5, 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.

There is a review of my blog, on the respected The Kindle Report here:http://thekindlereport.blogspot.com/2010/09/boy-who-knew-too-much-child-prodigy.html

Please have a read, if you would like a critic's view of this blog. Thanks.

You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

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 athttp://www.genghiscan.com/This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.) 

Are prodigies in competition with others?

Today, someone from Arlington, Virginia arrived on my blog with a curious search: “Cannot become a theoretical physicist because of prodigies”. I thought this a most odd search in what it said about the searcher’s understanding of prodigies.

Firstly, let us look at the situation with regards to prodigies. Many researchers put the number of true prodigies, of all types lumped together, at one in five million people. That means that the rarer types of prodigy, such  as omnibus prodigy (the type Ainan has now demonstrated himself to be – a prodigy with a multitude of talents), are much rarer still. There are, therefore, very few prodigies. How many in Physics have there been in recorded history? Well, Wikipedia’s list of child prodigies musters only 8 names. Thus, the entire competition from child prodigy physicists amounts to just 8 people.

It takes little imagination to see, therefore, that prodigies are not, truly, in competition with the masses of others, who are not prodigious. There are too few prodigies for it to be a truly competitive situation – prodigies are simply overwhelmed numerically by the non-prodigious.

So, to my searcher in Arlington, Virginia – you need not worry about the presence of prodigies in theoretical physics...no matter how talented they are, they will be numerically too small a number, to worry about, in any real competitive sense. This applies to all categories of prodigy...no-one need worry about prodigies out competing them, because there will always be too few of them to take up all the spots at the top, as it were: there will always be space for a bright individual who took more time to develop to their fullest.

There is only one way prodigies could become real competition at the top, in all fields: and that is if they were, perhaps, a thousand times more prevalent. In such a situation, they would tend to dominate – but that situation is unlikely to happen and, in fact, would be impossible without major intervention in human evolution and population genetics. This is not likely to happen in the foreseeable future, though it is conceivable that it might happen one day – probably beginning in a state that has less scruples than others, over possible ethical issues, most likely in Asia. I doubt, however, whether that is going to be something present adults will have to face, because the relevant technologies will take a significant time to mature and may, of course, never be implemented in humans at all.

Prodigies are not anyone’s competition. What they are, is human colour: they add to the spectrum of interesting humans out there in the world and should be welcomed, not feared, or shunned. What prodigies bring to the table is so rare that it is not, truly, in competition with anyone. Each prodigy should be treasured and valued, for the human rarity they are. Then again, if people fear their competition, people will tend to hamper the prodigy’s development...they will attempt to stymie them in every way they can. That, would be a truly sad loss of the prodigy’s talents. A prodigy should be aided, in every way, to become what they may – for though they add to life and society, they don’t take away opportunity from others, because they are simply too few.

Celebrate the prodigies in your midst...and don’t worry about competing with them. It is not about competition, it is about making the best of life, for us all.

Posted by Valentine Cawley

(If you would like to support my continued writing of this blog and my ongoing campaign to raise awareness about giftedness and all issues pertaining to it, please donate, by clicking on the gold button to the left of the page.

To read about my fundraising campaign, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-in-support-of-my.html and here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-first-donation.html

If you would like to read any of our scientific research papers, there are links to some of them, here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/02/research-papers-by-valentine-cawley-and.html

If you would like to see an online summary of my academic achievements to date, please go here: http://www.getcited.org/mbrz/11136175To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 5, 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.

There is a review of my blog, on the respected The Kindle Report here:http://thekindlereport.blogspot.com/2010/09/boy-who-knew-too-much-child-prodigy.html

Please have a read, if you would like a critic's view of this blog. Thanks.

You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

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 athttp://www.genghiscan.com/This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)