Top Tweets for #gfla

“no world-class artist became a “classic” by doing what somebody else had already done or even what everybody else in his/her own era did. And in science, the names of Einstein, Dirac, the Curies, Bohr, Heisenberg, Schrödinger, John Bell, etc. live on because none of them took Newton as Holy Gospel: they all made unique and unpredictable innovations in basic theory. And, in case you think this applies only to “arts and sciences,” consider the most successful people in industry. Henry Ford did not get rich copying Fulton’s steamboat; he made a car so cheap that anybody could afford one. Howard Hughes produced movies that nobody else would have dared to attempt, and then went on to revolutionize the airline industry. Buckminster Fuller did not copy the cubical form of previous architects, but invented the geodesic dome; at last count, over 300,000 of his buildings existed, making him the most visibly successful architect in history. Steve Wozniak did not copy the computers of his day, but invented one that even a “bloody eejit” (like me) could use (and even enjoy!) Bill Gates created new kinds of software. Etc. We all need constant reiteration of these truisms because we live in a world where a multitude of very powerful forces have worked upon us, from birth through school to jobs, attempting to suppress our individuality, our creativity and, above all, our curiosity — in short, to destroy everything that encourages us to think for ourselves… This human herd all started out as potential geniuses, before the tacit conspiracy of social conformity blighted their brains. All of them can redeem that lost freedom, if they work at it hard enough. I’ve worked at it for 50+ years now, and still find parts of me acting like a robot or a zombie on occasion. Learning “how to become what you are” (in Nietzsche’s phrase) takes a lifetime, but it still seems the best game in town.” ~Robert Anton Wilson