The Origin of the Word "Genius" and its Cultural Significance

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Each person had a unique genius, a guardian and lifelong companion that determined their talents, strengths, weaknesses, personality, and fate. The concept originated from ancient cultures and the Greeks believed that humans discovered ideas hidden by the gods. Geniuses like Socrates fascinated people as they appeared to reveal hidden knowledge.

In this show you'll hear the first episode of a documentary series I made for Himalaya, an audio service devoted to inspirational and educational content that asked me if I had any ideas for a book that I had yet to pursue, and sure enough, I did. The series is all about the difficulty of defining the word "genius," and out of that launching point it goes deep into the science of human potential and the history of the both the word and all the ideas we have attempted to understand and express when using it.

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Exploring Genius Audio Documentary