Lone genius panel notes

[alias_sqbr]

I suddenly realised that my copanelist(*) hadn't replied to my email and maybe didn't get it, and have been meaning to contact her another way but for some reason my inertia was easier to overcome to make an lj post. These are very rough notes and will likely be poked at some more. Thoughts welcome.

The Lone genius

The idea that a single inventor can be a gazillion times ahead of their contemporaries, and that if they or their invention are removed from society it won't be independently invented for centuries if at all

* Venus Plus X by Theodore Sturgeon
* Dayta's inventor from Star Trek Deep Space Nine, noone else seems to be able to create androids
* inventor of warp drive in Star Trek
* Beginning of Heroes, looks like even though Chandra Suresh's research is published the only person able/willing to take it further is his son. Turns out there's a conspiracy keeping thins quiet though.
* Ozymandias from Watchmen is kind of a criticism of the trope.


Even actual secret societies with secret knowledge draw on many inventors (eg guilds kept their craft secrets, inspired the free masons)
Most of the time "lost" knowledge is not the result of conspiracy, it just falls out of use.

Slightly different when they really are completely different to everyone else, eg an alien, Dr Manhatten.

How much you know is a sign of merit

There's this idea that "civilisation" (=western civilisation) has a natural progression towards progress that has been advancing consistently over time, so that the lone genius can just fast forward us a little way. If any "ancient" or "primitive" society was "too advanced" then we imagine aliens must have been responsible. (Whig verion of history)

It is assumed that someone from an "advanced" society will be better at figuring things out than someone from a less advanced one even in situations where their advanced knowledge isn't particularly applicable eg Jake Sully in Avatar being better at flying the giant lizards than people who've known them their whole lives, Stargate and Star Trek teams always being able to solve local problem of "primitive" societies they meet in half an hour.

What it means to be ahead of your time

Your idea really is leaps and bounds ahead of everyone else, and/or people just aren't ready to accept it.

Examples from history and pseudo-history in the popular imagination:

* Leonardo Da Vinci and expys like Leonard of Quirm.
* Atlantis
* the "secret inventions" of Edison, Tesla etc (Assassins Creed)

Real examples:

* plate tectonics
* washing hands
* germ theory in general

Note: these are not HUGELY brilliant ideas, and the main reason they weren't accepted is that they just didn't fit people's preconceptions. many true scientific ideas were thought up centuries before they became accepted, but without proof and the right framework they're just random wacky idea pople have no particular reason to believe. May even just be the result of a lucky guess rather than insight.

Examples of story types where the lone genius trope doesn't hold

Total luck, they happened to be in the right place at the right time to encounter the alien artifact or whatever.

The invention isn't very far ahead of everyone else, and it's only a matter of time before someone else invents it. Can create tension when the invention is dangerous. eg "Luminous" and "Crystal Nights" by Greg Egan, "Coming of the Quantum cats" by Frederick Pohl

Canticle for Leibowitz: it's not about creating new knowledge but holding onto/rediscovering lost knowledge. All that's required is to value knowledge.

Nobody has any clue what's happening! a lot of eastern European sf eg Stanislaw Lem

(*)Being vague to avoid linking real name with username, since I know you like them separate!

Comments

[ariaflame.livejournal.com]

Re: Data's creator I believe there was a case of androids created in TOS, but it didn't turn out well

[stephbg.livejournal.com]

The TOS android creator qualified as a lone genius, although he used to be engaged to Nurse Chapel before he disappeared to continue his research.

[sanguinity]

The androids were actually invented by an earlier civilization. Dr. Korby is a lone genius exclusively in the "stumbled upon an artifact" sense -- in fact, even before the androids, his fame was as a "medical archaeologist", i.e., translating ancient lost medical knowledge for modern use. He made a career out of stumbling on other people's inventions, apparently.

Another lone genius from TOS: the prison warden/reformer, Dr. Tristan Adams, who had supposedly made prisons a paradise for rehabilitation, but had Gone Too Far and had built a mind-control ray for the tough cases (and anyone else Who Got In His Way).

TOS doesn't seem to like Lone Geniuses; they appear to fall in a similar category with "humans who suddenly get godlike superpowers". The recommended action for godlike humans is "kill them now while you still can; even if you want to try to live peacefully with them, you can't." There isn't the same urgency around killing Lone Geniuses (but y'know how Lone Geniuses are, they eventually get around to trying to kill you, and then you've got to kill them).

[alias_sqbr]

This is really interesting and helpful, thanks.

[the-s-guy.livejournal.com]

The idea that a single inventor can be a gazillion times ahead of their contemporaries

"If I have seen further than most, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants - and inventing rocket-powered telescoping stilts."

[arcadiagt5.livejournal.com]

Apparently that quote was a piece of nastyness from Sir Isaac - one of his rivals (Hookes?) was extremely short and sensitive about it...

[the-s-guy.livejournal.com]

Wikipedia says there's some doubt about that, but it's a kinda-maybe-who-knows.

[arcadiagt5.livejournal.com]

Quite possibly. Nevertheless that Sir Isaac was a nasty piece of work generally is quite well documented.

Bryson's "A Short History of Nearly Everything" mentioned it, and so did Gribbins "Science: A History" (the better of the two BTW).

[triestine.livejournal.com]

Does usefulness - for want of a better word - come into this? People keep coming up with stuff all the time, but plenty of it is "out of its time" by not having any practical application. If a place for such an invention shows up later on then the inventor is thought of as being ahead of his or her time, but what if it doesn't? Would such a person be thought of as a lone genius or just a mad inventor?

[alias_sqbr]

Does usefulness - for want of a better word - come into this? People keep coming up with stuff all the time, but plenty of it is "out of its time" by not having any practical application.

*nods* Definitely. Look at Ada Lovelace: she came up with a bunch of computer programs that would have been really useful if there were any computers to run them on :D

If a place for such an invention shows up later on then the inventor is thought of as being ahead of his or her time, but what if it doesn't? Would such a person be thought of as a lone genius or just a mad inventor?

Good question. Hmm.