CSotD: The Genius Factor
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Here’s an oldie from 2000 which I came across when I was, of course, looking for something else. It was an instant favorite of mine because (A) I had a neighbor who overdecorated at Christmas and (B) at the time this appeared, General Electric had thrown up in the Hudson River and was fighting for the right to not clean up their mess.
I hadn’t started CSotD yet when this ran, but I posted it on my personal blog with this remark:
Did you ever wonder, when you were in college, about that kid who set his speakers up in the window and blasted his music over the quad? I mean, what happens to an obnoxious kid like that when he grows up?
This. This is what happens to him.
I stand by that assessment.
Ted Talks are still on NPR but the craze seems to have faded. Or maybe everyone has already had their chance to get up and make a speech.
When they started, I had the impression that there was some group who sought out amazing people and recruited them to explain their theories to the world, somewhat like getting a MacArthur Genius Grant except you didn’t get $800,000. Which, come to think of it, makes it not at all like a MacArthur Genius Grant.
Also, I think people who get a MacArthur Genius Grant are often surprised, as well they should be. I don’t think a lot of geniuses think they are geniuses. But you can nominate yourself to give a Ted Talk, which circles back to Sipress’ cartoon because why else would you?
I don’t know if Newton thought he was a genius, though he was so clearly autistic that his self-image is problematic. I’d guess Lavoisier and Priestly each thought he was a genius and the other guy wasn’t. And Edison was too busy working to fret over it.
Elon Musk thinks he’s a genius, but he’s mostly good at showing up with a bundle of money at the right time, which inspired this insightful Internet wisecrack:
Speaking of self-driving cars, not only did Sunday’s Bizarro make me laugh but I’m awarding Piraro a Good Timing Prize for having it come out just as the AI people are warning that their fabulous invention is probably going to kill us all.
Which, if they were geniuses, they would have foreseen. Assuming it’s correct. But whether it’s right or not, I don’t have any agency to change it one way or the other, except to vote for people who might make better choices than we’ve seen so far.
As for modernish cars, mine is 11 and has a standard transmission. About the only magical thing it has is a back-up camera, which I rarely use because I get a better view by combining the three mirrors on my car with looking out my back window.
This should be my last car because if I last longer than it does, I’ll be at an age where I shouldn’t be driving anyway. And I won’t want to be on the road if there are a bunch of people my age tooling around in self-driving cars, because that sounds like a solution and I sure doubt that it will be.
As it is, I think we need a publicity campaign to explain that a handicap sticker is about where you can park. It’s not a bad-driving permit.
I miss cars you could fix, not that I ever did. But the advantage of my VW Camper was that I could take it to a shade-tree mechanic who could get it back on the road with new parts or scrounged parts or a coat hanger or something.
Back then, even if it wasn’t a VW, all you had to know about car trouble was whether you should drive carefully to a service station (remember them?) or shut it off and call a tow truck. The guy at the gas station could fix whatever it was.
My car has taken to turning on all its warning lights, and I have a sneaking suspicion that, rather than replacing a fuse, fixing it is going to involve a $500 module, which might not fix it after all.
So my response is to keep an eye on my oil level because most of those other lights don’t matter a whole lot.
Edison Lee is a young genius, but he often falls short, and, by the way, you should be reading it during the week because he invented something that accidentally dragged him and his friends into Around the World in 80 Days and it’s been a fun, extended adventure.
Sunday’s piece made me laugh because I’m on T-Mobile Internet, which works off towers, not wires, and so my computer doesn’t know where the hell we are, but I gather the system has two head ends, one in the Boston area and one in Rhode Island. This makes on-line shopping problematic, because I get suggestions for stores in Providence or Woburn, while, at the moment, the TV is showing me political ads for Rhode Island candidates.
As for weather, I have a doohickey in the lower left corner that knows where I live, but then I get bulletins elsewhere on my screen about weather on, I dunno, Planet Purple or some place.
I don’t know how Fed Ex operates, but UPS lies. They send out an email saying your package will arrive today, which means it might arrive tomorrow. Then they send another saying it has been delivered, which means you should walk around the building in case the driver thought “back apartment” meant “front porch.”
Or possibly it’s still on the truck and they’ll put it on the steps after bedtime, as soon as it starts raining.
I don’t have much good to say about Jeff Bezos, but at least his serfs get the package to the right place at the time promised.
I don’t get bots in my email, but they sure are all over social media. I’ve got Facebook pretty well curated and BlueSky isn’t bad, but checking out Xitter yields Bub’s response — Bot … bot … bot …
Anyway, Mozart was a genius for sure.
Mike Peterson has posted his "Comic Strip of the Day" column every day since 2010. His opinions are his own, but we welcome comments either agreeing or in opposition.
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