30 Mar 2018

If Leonardo da Vinci was alive


Leonardo da Vinci is the man everybody admits is a genius. He invented, drew, and created lots of amazing things. There have been so many geniuses in the world and above all, I think he is a unique type of genius because he was active in lots of different fields; invention, painting, sculpting, architecture, science, mathematics and so on.

We know many geniuses but most of them displayed their talents in specific fields, Vincent Willem van Gogh was a remarkable painter, but he was not a genius of science, Albert Einstein was a genius of theoretical physics and he could play a violin well, but he wasn't a genius of music. Therefore, I think Leonardo da Vinci was a rare type of genius, and the word universal genius is for him.

Admitting his greatness, whereas I also take a different view of him.
In the modern world, everything is becoming subdivided. I haven't made sure of it, but I think that the times when Leonardo da Vinci was alive, things were not so complicated like now.

I wondered what he would be doing if he was alive now?
I think he is a man who is full of intellectual curiosity, so maybe he goes to university to study several different curriculums. In my extravagant imagination, he lives somewhere in San Francisco and works for an IT company, like Google and draws pictures on his off-days. It's fun just to imagine, isn't it? What I mean is, if he was alive now, I don't think he would be able to be a universal genius.

I have heard a former electrician say that he could repair most electric appliances by himself long ago, but he cannot do it now. It's not just because he has got old, every product has evolved. When he was young, he knew how an electric fan works. However, nowadays, televisions, alarm clocks, toasters, ovens, almost every product has microprocessors and it's beyond the range that he can understand.

Things are subdivided, and there are experts in every field.
It's a clear fact that Leonardo da Vinci is a genius, but if he lived in the current world, I think he wouldn't be able to be that famous, Leonardo da Vinci who lived in the Renaissance period.

There is a huge amount of talented people in the world and I believe there are some of them who have a talent like Leonardo da Vinci. Actually, there are people who are making remarkable activity in plural fields. I mean it's not many different categories, as Leonardo da Vinci got involved, just two or three. (The world is huge, it might be only I who doesn't know their presence.)

This is a bit of an old example, but John von Neumann was a multi-task genius. He showed talents in mathematics, physics, mathematical economics, and meteorology. These people are similar to Leonardo da Vinci.

The difference is these people don't display their talents in many different fields, but if they had lived in the Renaissance period, I wonder what they would have done? Thinking of the current world that has subdivided fields, it's remarkable to have talents even if it is in two or three categories.

You may encounter a modern version Leonardo da Vinci some day or it might be you?

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