> *ahem*...neither Michelle nor I is _quite_ unique (and there are probably
> others out there too).
Sorry... was having a bad day yesterday. But I take full responsibility
for my words and actions. How may I make it up to you women? Dinner on
me?[1]
> As regards your question, I don't think honesty in its usual senses has
> much to do with genius. But I do think genius probably requires a
> certain variety of internal honesty, allowing one to notice phenomena and
> relationships that others miss or gloss over.
The reason I'm so fired up over this honest=genius meme is that I've
been harping for sometime now about the imperfection of humans. That it
is our imperfections that make us human; that the act of admitting we
were wrong is truly the defining characteristic of being human. And you
see, this honest=genius meme finally allows an insight into *why*. It
is the act of admitting that we are wrong that allows us to *grow*, to
change, to *learn*. This is why all scientific theories must, at least
in theory, be falseafiable. If they are not, we learn nothing. The true
genius's are those people who see their own (and others) mistakes, and
use that knowledge of "wrongness" as a starting point for new ideas, new
truths.
Go read someone else's idea's on this topic, too:
http://www.tufts.edu/as/cogstud/papers/howmista.htm
(How To Make Mistakes, D.C. Dennett)
ERiC
[1] not that I'd stop you from paying...