Back in the early twentieth century, scientists were looking for ways to determine the nature of genius. In the USSR, for this purpose, the Institute of the Brain was even specially created, in which the contents of the skulls of Lenin, Pavlov, Mayakovsky and other celebrities were studied.
And we are not the only ones who are so curious. The brains of many Nobel laureates are stored and examined at foreign medical centers, such as the University of Ontario.
However, until now, attempts to find out what determines human intelligence have been in vain. Moreover, it often turned out that many deceased talents were by no means more "curly" than others in their convolutions.
Nevertheless, enthusiasts are not giving up. Such is, for example, Doctor of Biological Sciences, Professor, Head of the Embryology Department of the Research Institute of Human Morphology of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences Sergei Saveliev. Recently his book "Variability and Genius" was published (Moscow, publishing house "Vedi").
- Sergey Vyacheslavovich, why do some manage to create something original, while others do not? Maybe if everyone received a brilliant education and upbringing, then there would be more Archimedes and Balzacs?
- The idea of awakening extraordinary abilities through education arose in the minds of French physiologists back in the 19th century and still attracts with its simplicity. Its vitality lies in the proclamation of the equality of the potential abilities of all people, which is the ideal bait for the common people.
Dmitry Mendeleev
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Believing in this absurdity, everyone feels like an unrealized genius and a victim of circumstances. In this case, everyone understands that to correct the situation, you just need to invest in the education and upbringing of your offspring - and the problem will be solved.
- It's impossible?
- No amount of training can achieve the appearance of a second Pushkin. With a colossal investment of time and effort, you can only make some progress in any skill, but flaws in the structure of your own brain will not allow you to jump above the bar. It is impossible to develop any superpowers without an innate neuro-morphological substrate in the form of specialized areas of the brain.
- What is special about the convolutions of a gifted person?
- In 75% of cases, geniuses have a brain mass above the planetary average, that is, more than 1320 grams. Typically, their brains weigh about 1600 - 1700 grams. The record holders in this regard are Byron with his 1800 grams and Ivan Turgenev with 2012 grams. That is, to the maximum, the brain of a genius is almost 1.5 times heavier than usual. Of course, a big brain is only a high probability of talent, but not necessarily its presence. For example, there are idiots with brains weighing 2400 - 2850 grams.
- But, for example, Anatole France's brain weighed only 1017 grams.
- The frequency of appearance of "lightweight" geniuses in comparison with "heavyweight" geniuses is 4 times less. And their existence proves that the reason for outstanding abilities is not only in the volume of nervous tissue. In order for the brain of a genius to develop, one must naturally have a special combination of certain areas, for example, neocortical fields and subcortical structures.
- How to find a genius who has not yet shown himself?
- It is impossible to identify geniuses with the help of mediocrity. The layman will always instinctively try on his limited understanding of the structure of the world. And select the fittest common people. It is for this reason that all tests for assessing human intelligence give high scores when testing mediocrity.
The only way out is to find a way to analyze in vivo the deep structure of the brain of each individual person.
Today, attempts are being made to search for gifted people using functional tomography or positron emission analysis methods. But so far to no avail.