This person, Teoalida, is an incredible example of a modern autodidact renaissance man, existing quietly. As long as people like Teoalida exist, I cannot in good conscience claim that label for myself. You think I'm prolific? I'm like a little baby compared to Teoalida
Quick sketch - I wanted to explore this because I witnessed smart singaporeans struggle to make sense of why singaporeans seem more meek, risk-averse and culturally neutered than our neighbors/peers.
My hypothesis is that the critical variable/indicator is public protest
I think maybe even Lee Kuan Yew might be surprised at how Singaporeans just stopped protesting and learned to be helpless - he himself was a radical, rebellious man of passions & convictions - I think he understood that protests were a necessary expression of public spiritedness
(Thread)
there is an energy and a lively spirit at public protests where, at least in that temporary, narrow context, the people get to witness what people are like when they are free to behave as they please, without the usual controls and restraints. there’s a horny energy
Gertrude Stein (1874–1946) was born to a wealthy family, raised in Oakland CA. Both her parents died by the time she was 17. At Radcliffe College, she was a student of William James, who called her brilliant and encouraged her to go to med school. She got bored and flunked out
"She had spent many of her evenings not applying herself to her studies, but taking long walks and attending the opera." 😍
Her uncorseted physical appearance and eccentric mode of dress aroused comment and she was described as "Big and floppy and sandaled and not caring a damn"
In 1902 her brother Leo (left) left for London hoping to pursue an art career, and Gertrude followed – and a year later they relocated to Paris.
Here Gertrude would host a weekly Saturday night salon that attained legendary status, which is the reason I'm making this thread
one of my talking points is "I believe philosophy departments should be 50% staffed by children" – and a common response is that people think I'm doing a sort of silly and cute joke bit to make people laugh. but I am not. I am being absolutely serious
every single one of these things should be treated with the same respect and reverence we give any prestigious "thought leader". And I don't mean this in a "humor the children" way. I mean that they have important and valuable perspectives to contribute
the handful of ppl that we call geniuses are typically those who have protected the wild spirit of their inner-child-self into adulthood, fending off good-intentioned domestication
I believe we could have 1000x more geniuses if we took children seriously
almost every mention of Brian Eno's Scenius idea links to either Kevin Kelly's 2008 post, Bruce Sterling's repost of that on Wired, or a quote of Eno speaking in Sydney in 2009.
looking at 20 years of blogposts and writing about scenes and scenius, and I think, funnily, everybody who's written about this is so eager to emphasize the the group over the role of the individual, that they seem to gloss over the role that "scene managers" play
Pericles' lover Aspasia hosted the house parties that Socrates hung out at