How do you define genius?

Pehaps this belongs in Cosmos. If it does, my apologies to Ennis.

During my criminal homicide class the other day, the professor was talking abouta serial killer (Don't remember who) who was considered a genius because he had an Intelligence Quotient of 142. I brought this up to my co-workers afterward and they said that genius is usually defined as having an IQ of over 140. I found this disturbing, because I have tested several times to around 148. I have never considered myself a genius before, nor do I now.

What I'm getting at is this: how do we as a society or individuals define genius? Is it by IQ alone or are other factors involved? The ability to form absract thought is totally different from "book smarts," which is also totally different from common sense.

Studies have shown that the SAT, the most popular aptitude test for college admission, is not an accurate measure of a student's intelligence.

So... is there a better way to dictate/decide/define who and/or what is "genius?"

genius-> someone that has the ability to think in such a way that seperates him/her frome everyone else. Usually considered bazarr or unorthodox thinking. Most "geniuses" we actually quite insane at the same time. genius~insanity.

there are tons of iQ tests out there, i saw a high school student get 167 on an unofficial one and only 122 on the official Mensa test take the real one, i scored 136 and was asked to retest

I personally think there are different types of genius. ie, your typical "IQ" genius. An artistic genius, a computer genius, etc etc.

The typical term genius is completely bassed on your IQ. Like Digital_Jesus said, the Mensa test is probably the best "acurate" test I have seen. I have scored anywhere from about 95 to 170 depending on the test. I still haven't taken the Mensa test, so I can't tell you where I should be.

We can also consider a genius as being incredibly smart at a certain thing. ie, Michalengelo and Divinci were Artistic genius'. I don't know what their IQ was, but thats beside the point. Bethoven would have been a musical genius....especially since he couldn't hear. Bill Gates is a marketing genius. You can find an example in just about anything...

From dictionary.com

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1 a Extraordinary intellectual and creative power.
b A person of extraordinary intellect and talent: “One is not born a genius, one becomes a genius” (Simone de Beauvoir).
c A person who has an exceptionally high intelligence quotient, typically above 140.
2 a A strong natural talent, aptitude, or inclination: has a genius for choosing the right words.
b One who has such a talent or inclination: a genius at diplomacy.
3 The prevailing spirit or distinctive character, as of a place, a person, or an era: the genius of Elizabethan England.
4 pl. ge·ni·i (jn-) Roman Mythology. A tutelary deity or guardian spirit of a person or place.
5 A person who has great influence over another.
6 A jinni in Muslim mythology.

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I highly doubt the mythological beings are in question, so.... 1 shows your typical "genius" and 2 shows your specified genius.

Everybody is a genius in there own way

Casper- I like your attitude :)
Souleman-

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Bethoven would have been a musical genius....especially since he couldn't hear.

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I agree with you that Beethoven was a genius in his own right, but he didn't go deaf until late on in his life. Right before he wrote the ninth.

11001001 1011001100001011010111000110101001101110111110011101> Good point. He still wrote the ninth once he was deaf. His first sympohonies were works of genius, but once he was deaf, its almost more then genius. He truly was l337...

Book smarts is no substitute for a great personality.
You can be the smartest person in the world but if you’re an ******* you won’t get far.
On the flip side if you’re a total dumbass but are good with people you can still make it. (Just look a Hollywood)

i took an IQ test at my therapist when I was 16 and I scored a 131, I later took a IQ test at www.IQ test.com and scored 148. So what ever that means.

But I agree with Casper,everybody is a genius in their own way. I think what makes somone genius is when NO_ONE in the world thinks like they do. If they have a tottally independant thought process you are genuis. Because if you can remain un-propigated and think for yourself.YOU ARE GENIUS

There's a thin line between genius and insanity. When I hear the word genius, one man comes to mind. No, not me :p ...Albert Einstein. He was a genius among geniuses.

Albert Einstein Time Line
Albert Einstein Archives
Quotes from Einstein
Pictures of Einstein
Albert Einstein: Time Magazine's Person of the Century

Remote_Access_

like most people here i think a genius is a person who has the ability to think for him/her self and make his/her own decisions not to care about what other people feel or think about him/her. he/she is not restrained by society to do certain things and follow a life pattern like every body else.

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Originally posted here by Remote_Access_
There's a thin line between genius and insanity. When I hear the word genius, one man comes to mind. No, not me :p ...Albert Einstein. He was a genius among geniuses.
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R_A_- What about Tesla?
IMHO, he was more brilliant than Einstein. He dicovered ways to *almost* make electricity from the air.

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I believe that instinct is what makes a genius a genius.

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~ Bob Dylan

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Genius is a combination of three 'I's: intellect, imagination and intuition

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~ Professor A.C. Bharadwaj, Allahabad University, India

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What is the difference between genius and stupidity? Genius has limits.

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~Albert Einstein

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Genius is one percent inspiration, and ninety-nine percent perspiration.

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~Thomas Alva Edison

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Genius is nothing but a great aptitude for patience.

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~George-Louis De Buffon

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It takes a lot of time to be a genius. You have to sit around so much doing nothing, really doing nothing.

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~Gertrude Stein

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Genius is not a possession of the limited few, but exists in some degree in everyone. Where there is natural growth, a full and free play of faculties, genius will manifest itself.

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~Robert Henri

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Genius is the infinite capacity for taking pains.

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~Jane Hopkins

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Genius, the power which dazzles human eyes, is oft but perseverance in disguise.

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~H.W. Austin

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Unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.

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~Former President Calvin Coolidge

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In every work of genius we recognize our own rejected thoughts, and they come back to us with a certain alienated majesty."

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~Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Genius melts many ages into one, and thus effects something permanent... it is but the newspaper of a century, or perhaps of a hundred centuries.

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~Nathaniel Hawthorne

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Talent does what it can; genius does what it must.

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~Edward George Bulwer-Lytton

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Everyone is a genius at least once a year; a real genius has his original ideas closer together.

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~Georg Lichtenberg

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A genius is one who shoots at something no one else can see, and hits it.

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~Unknown

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True genius resides in the capacity for evaluation of uncertain, hazardous, and conflicting information.

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~Winston Churchill

edison's iq test = 56

thin line between genius and insanity - got to love james bond movies