Venues

[Rhett]

I would just like to ramble out some quick ideas comparing the Genius Forum to the world outside of it. It's easy to forget or be ignorant of the differences and what they mean for the individual and society.

The Genius Forum itself is an autocracy run by a genius (if you disagree with the latter please just allow me the rest). The forum is hosted within nations that are either democratic, communist/socialist, or other
autocracies/dictatorships/monarchies. This means the forum exists in these places when the powers allow. My impression so far is that it is a mostly safe place for expression. Expressions from the wise to the unwise are met with both encouragement and discouragement of a mostly safe nature. I say mostly because it has caused me serious problems with some non-members, but thankfully i don't know about anyone else having had this happen. Of particular note is the comparative safety of expression of wisdom, which typically makes it a very different place to outside of it. Both inside and outside can change at any time in the future.

In the world outside of the GF there is not an autocrat overseeing matters with the protection of wisdom in view. In particular there is little or no protection from malicious rumour and group politics, which can be the bane of the sage. At the minor end of the scale these can strip individuals of their true meaning, at the worst end of the spectrum they may have them tortured and killed. Thankfully there are laws, support agencies, protection agencies, beneficial individuals and groups, etc, which make it mostly habitable.

What i would like to draw attention to is the effect this has on individual choices and paths. The individual may choose whether their interest in wisdom is mostly compartmentalised, whereby they dwell in wisdom on the forum and mostly live a normal life outside of the forum, or take it more fully. The latter is typically favoured of course but needs to be done appropriately, intelligently, and consistently with any overall goals.

[ChaoticMelody]

"The Genius Forum itself is an autocracy run by a genius (if you disagree with the latter please just allow me the rest)."

And who is this Genius? I have looked around I haven't seen one true genius here.

Maybe a few partial Genii, But there aren't any true genius (That I have seen).

[Rhett]

"The Genius Forum itself is an autocracy run by a genius (if you disagree with the latter please just allow me the rest)."
And who is this Genius? I have looked around I haven't seen one true genius here.
Maybe a few partial Genii, But there aren't any true genius (That I have seen).

As far as i understand Kevin 'owns' the forum.

On what basis do you judge genius? In other words, what qualifies and what disqualifies someone in your view? You're entirely entitled to have your own view on this, it's not written in stone somewhere that we all have to bow down to. Though it does make sense to be practical about it.


Interestingly, at the moment discussions are happenning in scientific circles about whether democracies can move quickly enough to adapt to change, and serious comparisons are being made with autocracies. In the wider world at present i vouch for democracies, but autocracies have their own benefits and place. For instance, if this forum was a democracy, there would be ongoing politiking, which would compromise and draw attention from wisdom. And over time, wisdom would be lost completely from it. Indeed, if it became a democracy, i would probably leave it immediately after another venue was created.

[The Dude]

In the world outside of the GF there is not an autocrat overseeing matters with the protection of wisdom in view. In particular there is little or no protection from malicious rumour and group politics, which can be the bane of the sage. At the minor end of the scale these can strip individuals of their true meaning, at the worst end of the spectrum they may have them tortured and killed. Thankfully there are laws, support agencies, protection agencies, beneficial individuals and groups, etc, which make it mostly habitable.

I'm with CM. No geniuses are here.

I say we should get rid of all these agencies. You don't want so-called "Genii" waltzing around seeking support from their community! It could be chaos!

[Rhett]

Rhett: In the world outside of the GF there is not an autocrat overseeing matters with the protection of wisdom in view. In particular there is little or no protection from malicious rumour and group politics, which can be the bane of the sage. At the minor end of the scale these can strip individuals of their true meaning, at the worst end of the spectrum they may have them tortured and killed. Thankfully there are laws, support agencies, protection agencies, beneficial individuals and groups, etc, which make it mostly habitable.


The Dude: I'm with CM. No geniuses are here. I say we should get rid of all these agencies. You don't want so-called "Genii" waltzing around seeking support from their community! It could be chaos!

You don't need to get rid of the agencies, because at the end of the day it is already the case that when a community decides it doesn't want a sage, the agencies will not protect him enough for him to stay. But this is no reason to not become a sage, who would want to stay in such a community anyway? To me it just says something about the community, they're in the gutter.

Sages have done fine in almost any circumstance you can mention. Large towns and modern cities in particular are tolerant places. If this thread has put the bejeebers into anyone about becoming a sage, they probably aren't seeing the bigger picture. If someone is in a small tight-knit community they might end up deciding to spread their wings, but then again, they might not, and be fine about it.

[David Quinn]

As far as i understand Kevin 'owns' the forum.

I'm not sure about ownership, but it was co-founded by Dan, Kevin and myself.

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[xerox]

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