Does the world care about genius, anymore?

I ask this question for a very specific reason. It is the experience of my life, with regards to my child prodigy son, that is not easy to secure adequate and fair coverage of his creative and intellectual achievements. This abstemiousness in the coverage of genius, is not particular to Ainan. In fact, I have written many more articles  on giftedness and its issues, than have ever been published. So many of my best articles on giftedness are not allowed to be seen and read by the world, because of unfortunate media mindsets. It is very strange to watch the media’s priorities, in which, too often very, very trivial matters (David Beckham’s new haircut, anyone?) receive massive global coverage, whereas much more significant, indeed, historic achievements, such as Ainan making a scientific discovery and co-authoring a research paper at the age of 8, receive relatively modest coverage, considering their importance. It is very strange to watch. It seems that the modern world celebrates ordinariness and sidelines the truly exceptional. Once, it was not so. There was a time when, to become famous, one had to be truly an exceptional being. Now, it is the other way around – the very ordinary (such as reality TV stars), manage to achieve great fame, on the back of seemingly no achievements whatsoever, whereas the world’s greatest scientists, for instance, are essentially unheard of, outside of their own discipline. We have an inversion of the age old relationship between merit and fame.

It seems that in our time, too often, the unworthy become known and the worthy remain unknown. At least, it is not difficult to think of talentless, famous people and even easier to think of very talented, unknown ones (we all know one or two such people). Public regard now seems to be accorded on those most like the public – ie. unexceptional – and least like the giants of old – ie. geniuses. This is a tragedy,  not only for the geniuses concerned, but for Mankind and human society as a whole. I shall explain why.

A genius has the power to transform the human world – be it culturally, technologically, scientifically or societally. Yet, to effect such transformation, the genius needs to influence the world. The ability to influence that world and effect the positive changes they could make, depends directly on how well known they are. The better known they are, the more the world will listen to their ideas. Thus, it can be readily seen that, to reach their maximum potential for positive change in the world, a genius needs to be famous, in a very real sense. An unknown genius is an uninfluential genius. An unknown genius will not be able to change the world, to any significant degree. It is only when their work becomes well known, that it can have a chance of affecting the world. Thus, it can be seen that the media, by starving the general public of information on geniuses, by preferentially covering the Top 100 Celebrity Haircuts/nose clippings/shopping sprees, are directly impeding the progress of humanity.

Humanity cannot progress unless the work of its creators becomes widely known. That creative work cannot become widely known, unless the creators themselves are also widely known. Thus, it can be seen that creative work cannot change the world, in any real way, unless its creators are themselves well known. Fame can be used for trivial or profound purposes. In the hands of a genius, it can be used to truly transform the world, in a positive way.

It is time to silence the tumult of unremarkable “celebrities” and put in their place, the truly remarkable among us. By empowering such individuals of genius, with the influence that comes with fame, the world will progress with greater rapidity, to the benefit of all.

So, it is up to the media, to make a point of giving people of genius – and their creative works – an appropriate level of coverage, in proportion to the significance, rarity and potential of the achievements. A book, an artwork, a musical composition, a scientific paper, an architectural design, a poem, a film and any other creative achievement are all INFINITELY more worthy of global coverage, than a celebrity’s latest “hook up”.

Let us usher in a world of significance – and let the trivial be silenced. Banish celebrity haircuts, relationships, and trashy behaviour from the world’s newspapers and put in their place achievements and achievers of significance.  Were this done, we would soon all be living in a much better world than this one.

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.) 

Who is significant in the modern world?

Today, by chance, I noticed something which gave me pause to reflect on what it means to be significant, as a person, in the modern world. I began to type a word on Google, that began with "LEO...". Immediately, Google guessed what I was going to type. I was appalled at its suggestions. Can you guess what I saw, without actually checking for yourself, first?

So, what do you think I saw?

Well, the first suggestion was Leonardo Dicaprio. The second was Leo Burnett. The third was Leonardo da Vinci. I found this ordering of choices unsettling, for many reasons.

What sort of world puts Leonardo da Vinci - perhaps the single most creative person ever to have lived - behind an actor and an advertising agency? Why are they ordered in such a way? Well, I assumed this must have something to do with their relative fame in the modern world. Perhaps, I thought, Leonardo Dicaprio gets more Internet searches than Leonardo da Vinci. Perhaps the world is not so aware of Leonardo da Vinci, as his modern namesake. So, I checked on Google Insights. Guess what I found?

Leonardo da Vinci is four times more famous than Leonardo Dicaprio when measured by Internet search density around the world - and infinitely more famous than Leo Burnett. The search bar for Leonardo da Vinci was four units long. The search bar for Leonardo Dicaprio was one unit long. The search bar for Leo Burnett was ZERO units long.

So, this presents a big puzzle. The world's Internet searchers are four times more interested in Leonardo da Vinci than in Leonardo Dicaprio - and vastly more interested in him, than in Leo Burnett, yet, still Google puts Leonardo da Vinci after the other two. There is something sad in this. One of the world's greatest geniuses overshadowed by a film star. It isn't right. I am left to wonder whether this ordering of search results is a function of a computer algorithm or hand ordering by a human. If it is a computer algorithm, is it biased towards more recent events? If it is a human is it overly impressed by fame and commerce? (Dicaprio and Burnett.)

Whether it is a human decision or a computer decision to place Leonardo da Vinci third in the list, the effect is the same: to judge genius as less significant than celebrity and commerce. So, our world seems to value (or those behind this ordering, anyway), familiarity and money, over intellectual and creative substance. Yet, this ignores the data found in Google insights - that the world's Internet searchers are four times more interested in Leonardo da Vinci, than in Leonardo Dicaprio.

My response to this is to propose a test, which I hope some distant readers, in future times, might be able to conduct. It is quite simple really. Leonardo da Vinci's time was about five hundred years ago. My question is this: will Leonardo Dicaprio and Leo Burnett be as famous in five hundred years time, as Leonardo da Vinci is, now? So, I invite my future readers in the twenty sixth century (if the Internet still exists and Blogger is still hosted), to Google (or the equivalent) "Leo..." and see what is suggested. Does it suggest Leonardo Dicaprio above Leo Burnett, above Leonardo da Vinci? Does it even suggest Leonardo Dicaprio at all? My guess is that Leonardo da Vinci will still be one of those suggested, but that the other two will have been replaced by new "Leos" of some kind. So, the present prominence of Leonardo Dicaprio over Leonardo da Vinci is likely to be a temporary phenomenon. Google is not measuring true worth by its search results. Were it doing so then Leonardo da Vinci would be the top result for Leos...and would be likely to stay that way, even in another five hundred years time.

Anyway, please conduct the test at the appropriate time. I may not be around to hear the results...but I can at least make the suggestion that you do so. Thank you.

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.)

My favourite Einstein story.

A Berlin music critic in the early 1920s listened to a violin performance, by Albert Einstein. Afterwards, he gave his assessment:

"Einstein's playing is excellent, but he does not deserve his world fame - there are many others just as good."

The critic was unaware that Einstein's fame was founded in Physics, not music!

(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/11136175

To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 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.

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 at http://www.genghiscan.com/

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

Tiger Woods and the limits of fame

Tiger Woods is famous, however I think he will not always be so. Mr. Woods will, one day, be what he once was: a “who?”.

A few days ago, Tiarnan heard the name Tiger Woods, at the dinner table. His name was mentioned in the context of the PS3 Playstation.

“What is Tiger Woods?”, Tiarnan, four, asked of the table, in general. No-one deigned to answer, but just let the question hang there, in the air, unanswered. Tiarnan looked around, expectantly, for a few long seconds, then took on the task himself: “Oh, I know, it is a LONG tiger.”

Clearly, somehow, the word “woods”, was associated, in his mind, with long objects.

Again, no-one answered or clarified for him. I didn’t do so because I was interested in his reasoning. I don’t know why his brothers didn’t do so. Perhaps they were more interested in eating dinner.

Tiarnan seemed very interested in the question of just what this Tiger Woods thing was all about. He sat alertly in his seat, his mind alive with possibilities.

“Is the Tiger woods game like Ultimate Alliance? Is it a fighting game?”

For those who don’t know, “Ultimate Alliance” is a superhero game based in the Marvel Universe. Evidently, that was just the type of game Tiarnan hoped for.

I decided to step in, at that moment, feeling that Tiarnan had struggled enough to understand what “Tiger Woods” was.

“Tiarnan: Tiger Woods is a golfer…he plays golf.”

Tiarnan didn’t quite know what to make of that. I could see the excited tension draining from him. He sat back down, less alertly than before. Golf obviously didn’t sound in the least exciting. He didn’t ask about Tiger Woods, again.

Now, this little scene allowed me to understand something. Fame is mortal. It dies with those who remember it. Thus, for Tiger Woods, only those who have seen him play, or heard news of his playing (both on and off the field!) are going to remember him. Thus it is that an entire generation can get to hear of him. However, if that fame is not renewed in the generations that follow, it will be lost. The day will come when Tiger Woods is no longer famous. This is already evident. Tiarnan is too young to have seen Tiger Woods play at his best. Recent times have been consumed with Tiger Woods’ problems. Tiarnan doesn’t watch the news, so he has no chance to get to hear of Woods, that way (and, to be frank, given the news on Mr. Woods, we wouldn’t want him to.). So, Tiarnan is in the position of never having seen Tiger Woods play –and never having seen him in the news, either. From Tiarnan’s perspective, Tiger Woods does not even exist. Tiarnan didn’t even know that Tiger Woods was a “who” and had considered that he might be a “what”. This is not Tiarnan’s failing. Tiarnan’s situation is likely to be fairly common for those in his age group. He is of the new generation that has not had the chance to yet become acquainted with Tiger Woods. In fact, if Woods stopped playing today, Tiarnan might NEVER hear who Tiger Woods is (or was).

Tiger Woods’ fame is based on something very temporary and fleeting. He hits a ball better than most people. That is it. Once people stop seeing him hit that ball, his fame will soon fade. He will be remembered, by the masses of his generation, for the duration of their lives…but the generations that follow may only be vaguely aware that there once was a golfer by that name. A significant proportion of the generation that immediately follows the end of his career, will never know who he is. As for the generations that follow, Tiger Woods can just forget about being recognized, remembered or cared for. The foundation of Tiger Woods’ fame, is something too insubstantial to last. It is not something that is renewed generation after generation. For a person to have lasting fame, their achievement or work, must either be relevant to each new generation or be reborn in each new generation. Otherwise, its creator is soon forgotten. Tiger Woods’ fame, though intense now, is of the forgettable variety. The day will come when only golfers and golfing historians remember him. The common man will not know Tiger Woods at all.
For a person to be famous to Tiarnan and those of his generation, a person from the past must impact their lives in some way. The famous person, must still have a reason to live in their hearts and minds. Tiger Woods does not truly have such a reason. Yet, others have. Shakespeare, will be remembered as long as his plays are performed: they are reborn for each new generation. Socrates will be remembered as long as his example as a thinker and teacher has power to move us to reflect. Einstein will be remembered as long as relativity is relevant to our lives and atomic power has any meaning at all. It is thus, those, whose work is enduringly relevant, that we remember. By this measure, however, it is clear that almost all modern famous people will not be famous for any longer than the duration of their lives – if that. Indeed, many modern famous people live long enough to become anonymous, again. It is not infrequently that I see the death of a “famous” person, on the news – a person whose fame is completely unknown to me, because it happened so long ago. They outlived their own celebrity and are only remembered by the oldest old.

The essential point of this post is that we must understand the limits of fame. Much fame is fleeting and built on insubstantial foundations. True fame, the kind that endures across the ages, is only accorded to those whose work is truly powerful in some way. In this way, the fickleness of modern fame, which often seems to be accorded on the undeserving, is righted. In the span of ages, only the truly worthy are remembered. Thus, it is that time distills the famous and leaves only those who were truly worthy of our attention in the first place.

This thought leaves me to wonder whom of our time, by which I mean the past century or so, will be remembered in centuries, even millennia to come? Perhaps you might like to suggest those whose present fame signals true merit and an enduring reputation that shall last the ages. Whose name will still be on our lips in centuries to come? Whose name, if any, will still be spoken several millennia hence, as are Aristotle’s, Plato’s and Socrates’?

One thing I know for sure: Tiger Woods’ name will not be among them.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 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.

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 at http://www.genghiscan.com/

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

Grigory Perelman and the Millenium Prize.

Dr. Perelman, the famously reclusive mathematician has done it again: he has been awarded the first Millenium Prize for the proof of the Poincare Conjecture that a sphere is the only three dimensional enclosed space that does not have any "holes". This, apparently, was a very tough problem and Dr. Perelman has provided an elegant proof. Thus, he deserves the prize - however, the problem is he may just refuse it.

Dr. Grigory Perelman has a history of shunning the accolades that his profound work accrues. He refused, for instance, to attend a Fields Medal ceremony to receive that prize. It seems that he didn't want the fuss that went with earning such an honour. So, he stayed at home in St. Petersburg, where he lives with his mother.

This time, however, the prize in question, the Millenium, comes with one million dollars attached. The general view is that Dr. Perelman may very well turn this down as he has yet to say that he will accept the prize. I hope that he accepts it, for the circumstances of his life cannot be easy. Dr. Perelman has been unemployed for several years and has turned down all offers of work. It may be that he wishes to be totally free to pursue his ideas. Yet, not having an income and living with one's mother in one's forties cannot be an easy life. It may be that Dr. Perelman's financial circumstances may be affecting his ability to give of his best and do the best work he can.

For those who have never had money - as I assume Dr. Perelman has not - it is difficult to understand the freedom that comes with having money. The one million US dollars of the prize would ensure that Dr. Perelman need not have any financial worries and would allow him to pursue his work, fully. It may even buy him extra peace and the ability to secure further privacy, should he require it. I doubt that he will ever read my words, but I hope that, uncharacteristically, he accepts this prize for the freedom it will give him to focus more clearly, upon his work and live a life of peace.

It seems that Dr. Perelman fears celebrity. Well, he won't become one, in any real sense, since the times that he comes to public attention are too far apart. People forget a face that they do not see regularly. Thus, he has no real worries in the celebrity department. His fears are needless and groundless. Indeed, the money that the prize awards could be used to allow him to live an even more secluded life, if he so wished it.

I understand his concern, however. A thinker needs peace and quiet in which to contemplate. He fears that if he begins to accept the prizes offered to him, that he will lose that peace. On the contrary, I think he will have the power to gain greater peace, for a life of financial restriction is not one that anyone would call peaceful. He must have limitations that could be overcome were he to simply accept the prizes that his work deserves.

I am concerned, though, to note that several self-interested parties (one of which I understand is the St. Petersburg Communist Party) have urged him to donate the money to them, should he not want it, to "alleviate poverty". These are, I think, very selfish requests. There is already poverty to be alleviated, in this situation - Dr. Perelman's. He has earned these prizes and it seems, to me, to be somewhat evil, that various organizations should be urging him to give them, his well deserved money. I hope he doesn't heed them and sees that his need is greater than their own. It seems to me to be more important to free one genius to work, to his best, than to spread one million dollars thinly across the hundreds of thousands of poor people in St. Petersburg. The money would make a great difference to Dr. Perelman - but not one bit of difference to have it spread across so many others.

So, Dr. Perelman, if you ever read these words, I urge you to accept the money - though not necessarily to actually attend any ceremonies. The money will give you more freedom than you are presently able to imagine.

Happy thinking.

(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.)

Perez Hilton/Mario Lavandeira, blogger: the meaning of his success.

Perez Hilton, whose real name is the less euphonious, Mario Lavandeira, is one of the world’s most successful “bloggers”. I use the quotation marks because what he puts on his blog does not compare to what most serious bloggers are trying to do. In brief, Perez Hilton blogs about the doings of the famous – and has an undying interest in the trivial. His blog consists of everything an intelligent person wouldn’t want to know, about people an intelligent person wouldn’t want to know in the first place.

It worried me to learn that Perez Hilton’s eponymous website secures around 100 million visitors per month. That is an astonishing number compared to the typical blog and is indicative, not of Perez Hilton’s greatness as a writer, but of his audience’s lack of discrimination. Now, I am not going to criticize his readership, for themselves, nor blame them as individuals for being interested in such classic items as: “Faeces throwing monkey” and “Soledad O’Brien: not as nice as she looks”. Other posts call Joaquin Phoenix’s rap debut, a “joke”, praise Whitney Houston’s good looks, and speculate that Courtney Love’s daughter Frances Bean (all of 16) has the hots for Robert Pattinson, of Twilight fame.

It all comes across as extremely unimportant, vapid, trivial and ultimately valueless. Yet, it sells. A hundred million people a month pop by to read what Perez Hilton considers important enough to highlight in Hollywood gossip. It is also making Mario Lavandeira a rich man: last year he earnt two million US dollars.

The big question is: why? Why do so many people actually waste precious time in their lives actually reading such material? The answer is that the culture in which they live has lost sight of what is important. They grow up surrounded by the trivial masquerading as important – and so lose the ability to distinguish what is worthy of attention, from what should be ignored. Everything Mario Lavandeira/Perez Hilton writes, should be ignored by anyone of any discernment – and probably is. However, there are millions of people who find the most minor deeds or misdeeds of “celebrities” fascinating enough to pop by for a daily read of “Perez Hilton, Queen of all Media”.

I am not sure whether this global fascination for the trivial is a temporary cultural issue, or whether it is indicative of a lasting decline in the mental powers of the human race. You see people who are thinking about whether Joaquin Phoenix really should shave, are people who are not thinking about anything more important. When you have a whole human race doing that, then matters are dire. From Perez Hilton’s traffic it would seem that a significant chunk of the human race are, in fact, preoccupied with matters as trivial as whether a particular 16 year old girl fancies Robert Pattinson, or not.

It is my hope that our present era of triviality will pass and usher in an era of more substance. However, the signs don’t look good. The celebrity culture has a great momentum about it. More and more media space is consumed with gossip on the most trivial of individuals. Then, on top of this, there is a generation on generation decline in the intellectual (genetic) quality of the human race as a whole, which is well documented and has been going on since at least the 19th century. (see Richard Lynn)

It looks like the future will be as the present, only worse – and the Perez Hilton’s of the world will find it as easy to make two million dollars a year, in the future, as they do, today.

Incidentally, Perez Hilton/Mario Lavandeira’s site was so busy it took me several minutes to load on both of the two occasions I have ever visited the site, in my life (both for research purposes, I hasten to add!). I found the whole experience rather uncomfortable and, had I not the need to come to understand the Perez Hilton/Mario Lavandeira phenomenon, I probably would not have bothered waiting.

The fact that Mario Lavandeira’s gossip can attract so many visitors leads me to ask one question: if Albert Einstein were alive today, and had a blog, would he attract 100 million visitors a month, even with his global fame?

I seriously doubt it. It is more likely that Einstein would attract a few hundred thousand interested souls lost in a dessert of others, consumed with whether a particular star brushes their teeth often enough.

We live in trivial times – fingers crossed for deeper ones, to come. A good sign would be if Perez Hilton’s site hit rate began to drop precipitously. Should it ever fall below a million a month, perhaps we could breathe more easily and look forward to more considered times ahead.

Here’s hoping.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

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Heath Ledger: "Natural Causes" or Karoshi?

There is speculation on the internet that Heath Ledger, the actor, may have died from "natural causes". This is said because rumour has it that the toxicity level of the drugs in his system would have been insufficient to kill a man.

I don't know if this is true. The official autopsy report is not yet out. However, granting that it is so, then we have to look elsewhere. Some are saying that he just had a heart attack. This sometimes happens, even with young, non-obese people. Sometimes, people have an undiagnosed heart defect or disorder and the first thing they know about it, they are dead. This may be so. However, there is another explanation: karoshi.

Karoshi is a Japanese concept - it means "Death from overwork". Let us look at Heath Ledger's life in the last few months: he was filming non-stop; he was sleeping very little; he spoke of being "stressed out"; interviewers described him as "twitchy" and "on-edge". He was a man who clearly was pushing the limits way too much. It could just be that he is a victim of overwork - a death by karoshi.

Again, we come back to the realization that his fame killed him. Whether it be suicide, accidental overdose or overwork/karoshi, Heath Ledger's work as a film star is what killed him.

His case is a reminder that, no matter how "well" our careers are going, no matter how many "opportunities" are coming our way, no-one should ever set aside a reasonable degree of rest and peace and quiet for it. To do so, is to risk an early demise. Perhaps employers in general could learn a lesson from this example: don't push your staff too hard - if you value your employees isn't it better to push a little less hard and let them get enough rest, so that that employee is able to continue to contribute to the company long-term rather than burn-out/breakdown/drop dead?

Everyone should be allowed to rest - and not just rest in peace.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and one month, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and seven months, and Tiarnan, two years exactly, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

Celebrity sighting on a train

Today I had the strangest of experiences.

I was sitting on a train, as I rarely do, since I rarely take a train, when I found myself looking at the newspaper of the man sitting next to me. He was in his fifties, and Chinese. The newspaper was called the New Paper - a tabloid.

Perhaps it is not the best of manners, but there was nothing better to do, on the journey, than read his newspaper as he did. He appeared not to notice.

Then, he turned the page. I felt a tingle of surprise, because there, in the newspaper, was a picture of my son, Ainan, 7, taken by my wife (but available on the internet), next to a brief description of his record breaking feat, in passing an O level at only 7 years and 1 month. It was just a few lines.

Now, this is a newspaper that I didn't expect to cover Ainan, at all - since it only deals in "exclusives" - meaning their policy is to run stories that no-one else has. Yet, that didn't apply to Ainan since he had been on the front page of Berita Harian the day before (and mentioned in another article's first paragraph in an article about "Wonder Kids", in the Straits Times, the leading English language daily, the same day). Ainan's story was not exclusive - yet they had mentioned him.

A feeling of surreality came over me as this man began to read about my son. I studied him, as his eyes studied the few words written before him. His eyes lingered long over them, drinking them in, as if he had stumbled upon a wine of unexpected vintage. It felt so strange that I, Ainan's father, was sitting anonymously next to him, as he read of him. He then looked up from the single paragraph, at the photograph above. Again, his eyes spent long, too, too, long, on Ainan's face and then looked across at the board pictured alongside him, with his chemical equations, scrawled on it. He spent perhaps three minutes on an article that would only take about ten seconds to consume, at a normal reading pace. Then he looked away and read the other page - but, before he turned the page, he looked back, again, at my son's face.

I felt a peculiar warmth as I watched this display. I wanted to smile, but didn't: I just observed him.

All over Singapore, other people were reading of Ainan - and I walked among them, utterly unnoticed. What an odd experience.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and ten months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and three months, and Tiarnan, twenty months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

O.J.Simpson: Fame and Invulnerability

Sometimes, in some cultures, the famous think that they are invulnerable. They are like royalty walking among mere peasants - and are so far above the law, that they probably don't even know how to spell the word. At least, that is how many of them appear to behave and think of themselves.

O.J. Simpson is a definite case in point. Here is a man who was once, rather publicly, charged with a double murder - and, equally publicly, was acquitted - though many in the world didn't seem to agree with the acquittal and put it down to two factors: his gifted lawyers - and his fame - and consequent aura of untouchability. Now, I am not about to revisit the murder case and cannot form a solid opinion about it because I don't have the evidence to hand - but I can say this: it did seem to me that he was awfully lucky to get off, given the set of circumstances he faced.

That luck could have played a part in the most recent O.J. Simpson event. O.J has, as you probably know, been charged with multiple counts relating to an armed robbery in a Las Vegas casino - of, bizarrely, his own sports memorabilia. O.J. Simpson burst into a hotel room with several accomplices, at least one of whom was armed, and set about robbing the occupants of their O.J Simpson sports memorabilia. O.J. Simpson has subsequently claimed that he thought that the sports memorabilia had been stolen from him and that he was just reclaiming it, his style. Now, that may or may not be true, it may or may not reflect a gift for alibi invention, that has, no doubt, been well-exercised in his life - but whatever the case, the fact remains that O.J. Simpson should not, under any circumstances, have burst into a hotel room, with armed accomplices, to rob a couple of sports memorabilia collectors of O.J. Simpson memorabilia!

One thing that can be said, fairly safely, is that O.J. Simpson, whatever his athletic virtues might be, cannot be very bright. In fact, he is probably the least intelligent person I am ever likely to refer to on this blog on giftedness. O.J Simpson escaped a conviction for double murder. The Goldman family, at least, think he did it. The world's attention had been focused on him a little too long for anyone to ever forget him - and now, thirteen years later, he thinks it a reasonable act to commit an armed robbery, in a major hotel, of people who know who he is and actually collect his memorabilia!

Why would O.J. Simpson commit an armed robbery? Well, apart from the obvious answer that he must be both desperate and lacking intelligence there could be another: the effect of fame.

O.J. Simpson was not that well known outside the United States when the double murder case came to trial. But, upon that case, O.J Simpson became one of the world's most famous people. Furthermore, he remains so, for anyone who was a news-watcher in 1994. That is a generation that will never forget O.J Simpson. He has become, for them, an indelible memory. O.J. Simpson was a football star before the murder case - but after it he was a global brand - if a rather tarnished one.

Fame such as O.J. Simpson has is a thing that should only be the property of a mature mind. By this I do not mean an old person - I mean one who is responsible, aware of their position in the world, not given to abuse of power - and somewhat of a realist. They must be realistic enough to know the limits of behaviour within which a famous person should act, if they are not to fall foul of either the law, or basic morality. O.J Simpson does not appear to be aware of these limits (as neither did Mike Tyson before him, in another context).

O.J. Simpson has, it seems, fallen into the big trap of fame, for the famous: the idea of invulnerablity, the idea that the usual rules do not apply to the famous because, in so many contexts, they really don't apply. Yet, that does not mean that the rules don't apply in all contexts. There are still laws. There is still morality. There is still their public image to consider.

O.J. Simpson wasn't considering any of these things when he burst into a hotel room with armed accomplices. He was only thinking of the great O.J. Simpson, football star and globally famous - or infamous - man.

If O.J. Simpson genuinely thought that the sports memorabilia were his - all he had to do was pick up the phone and call the police to get them back. It defies belief that he would commit an armed robbery to do so.

Perhaps, getting off those murder charges convinced him, unconsciously or otherwise, that he could get away with anything - no matter what. (For even if he didn't, in fact, do it, it did look rather awkward.) All he had to do was hire a team of lawyers and let his fame do the rest.

Fame could have made O.J. Simpson into the kind of man who thinks armed robbery is something he can get away with. Fame could have convinced O.J. Simpson that he is above the law. Fame could have convinced O.J. Simpson that he can do what he pleases, without consequence.

Yet, there is one thing fame is now likely to do: ensure that the whole world watches the ensuing case. Fame may also work against him. There may be a tendency to punish him for the perceived wrongs of the prior case. Fame might mean O.J. Simpson spends the rest of his life in prison. It all depends on the jurors: are they enamoured of O.J. Simpson's fame, this time around - as they seemed to be, last time - or have they tired of him? Has O.J. Simpson slipped from fame to infamy since the first case? If it is the latter, then O.J. Simpson may discover that fame is not as protective as he had hoped. O.J. Simpson may be remembered for one more thing: spending the rest of his life in jail, signing sports memorabilia.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and nine months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and two months, and Tiarnan, nineteen months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

Valentine Cawley Celebrity Look-a-likes part two

It is difficult to be impartial in the matter of appearance. Now, however, one can let a computer make the judgements. In the previous post, I ran one photograph through a site that correlates one's features with famous people. (Its purpose is to find lost relatives, actually, through finding genetic resemblances between people reflected in their features.)

Below is the result of trying another photograph. There is variation between them because a different photo will catch one in somewhat different way. It is interesting to note that Jacqueline Bisset comes up again, despite the change of angle. Albert Einstein also correlates to me, at 52%. I hope it is not my hair that did it.

I am not displeased to correlate with Vince Vaughn and Tom Hanks: amiable souls both.

Have fun all.

Celebrity: gift or creative genius?

We live in a celebrity obsessed world. A world of Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes, and baby Suri; a world of Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie and baby Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt; the world of Mel Gibson, Madonna, and Sharon Stone. A world in which Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, James Dean and Marlon Brando are still remembered. From the coverage these people receive, one would think they were the most important people on Earth: but are they? Are they the best of people? Is celebrity the product of natural gift, inner creative genius - or is it a gift of luck, itself?

Some celebrities are certainly gifted. James Woods is profoundly gifted, with an IQ of 180. He may well be the brightest working actor in Hollywood, though perhaps not in the wider world. Madonna's IQ, I once read, is 140 - so she is moderately gifted, on her way to highly gifted. Sharon Stone's is apparently around 150 making her highly gifted. One could argue whether or not these people were geniuses - in the creative sense - and decide, most probably, that they were not: but they are definitely gifted in the sense of IQ.

Is it necessary to be gifted to be a celebrity? The short answer is a clear no, as most would have observed if you have watched celebrity interviews. Many of them are clearly not very intelligent. It seems that luck and perseverance alone, are enough. A pretty face helps, too.

Is celebrity a reward to giftedness? Most certainly not. Most gifted people live relatively successful lives, but few attain fame - there are so many factors involved in that besides talent, or gift, or even simple intelligence.

Ainan Celeste Cawley, my six year old son, is a scientific child prodigy, with a prodigious gift in science, and a grasp of conceptual matters beyond most adults. He is not, however, a celebrity. Scientists generally don't achieve acclaim, even if they produce volumes of quality work. Why is this? Fame is determined by what the public want to know and generally they don't want to know about scientists or science. Apart from Linus Pauling, Stephen Hawking, Albert Einstein and Robert Oppenheimer, how many scientists, in modern times, have truly made an impression on the public? Very few compared to the vast numbers of scientists who have lived and worked in that period.

Fame, then, is not an inevitable reward for giftedness. To be gifted, a genius, a child prodigy - or a savant - is its own reward. These gifts confer the ability to see more in life, understand more, feel more - and contribute more to life, than the ungifted, untalented, ordinary are able to.

Who is more important to the world: a celebrity, who is ungifted, but famous, or a gifted person who is talented, but unknown? I would say the gifted person, for though they may not be leading a high-profile life, their actual true contribution to life is likely to be greater. This becomes clear once we see through the glamour of fame, and judge the actual merits of their achievements.

Whether or not my children become famous for their achievements, their genius, prodigy, gift provides the only significance that is necessary. That they are gifted is significant. Being a child prodigy, is significant, whether or not that is recognized widely, it does not change their intrinsic worth, which could not be higher.

For me Ainan Celeste Cawley, 6, Fintan Nadym Cawley, 3, and Tiarnan Hasyl Cawley, 9 months are my pantheon of celebrities/little Gods. That few know them, matters little, for their worth and their unique gifts are most evident.

If your children are gifted, or show genius, or prodigy of any kind, then know that that makes them as important to life as anyone. Though the creative among us may often not receive the acclaim they deserve, they remain the most important of people: a world of god-like celebrities notwithstanding.

(If you would like to learn more Ainan Celeste Cawley, six, a scientific child prodigy, and his brothers, go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html )