Raised to cite, not to see.
To uphold, not to understand.
To reduce rich cultures to labels.
To claim ‘right’ by inheritance alone.
And to crucify curiosity.
One unexpected pattern when studying the lives of geniuses is that many were completely unremarkable in their 20s. The breakthroughs came much later.
Dyson was 46 when his first vacuum came out, Henry Ford was 40 when he started Ford Motors, and Sam Walton was 44 when he opened the first Walmart.
The average age of a unicorn founder in the US at incorporation is 42.
By the standards of today’s “30-under-30” culture, most of these late bloomers would have been written off long before they did the thing that made them famous.
The unremarkable years waiting for the breakthrough were spent building the relevant technical skills and pattern recognition. You cannot compress the ordinary years required to birth genius..
Finishing up my new episode on the little known "Lightning Pyramid" of Ta Keo in Cambodia. After walking every terrace, climbing the steep towers, and studying the stone, water systems and sheer scale of the interconnected complex, I’m convinced we're looking at something much bigger, much older and FAR more complex than the official story tells us.
I’m on my way to India to visit the World Heritage Site of Hampi. The site covers over 40 square km and is FILLED with mystery - including a green diorite step well, monolithic doors, a giant lingam and evidence for lathing technology. We’ll spend the next four days there. Stay tuned!!
I’m currently in Hampi, India and came across this granite artifact in a little-visited part of the site. I talk a lot about evidence for ancient lathing technology, so this was very fun to see in real life.