The person with the intelligence, knowledge, and the expertise didn't see it, and the person with far less knowledge and expertise comes up with an idea that shapes the way we think about the world. I have always been impressed by Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection and have become fascinated with scholastic attempts to apply Darwinian ideas to creativity and genius. Campbell was not the first to see the connection between Darwinian ideas on evolution and creativity. Campbell's work has since been elaborated on by a number of scholars including Dean Keith Simonton of the University of California, Davis and Sarnoff Mednick. The work of these and many other scholars suggests that genius operates according to Darwin's theory of biological evolution.
Nature is extraordinarily productive.
Genius is analogous to biological evolution in that it requires the unpredictable generation of a rich diversity of alternatives and conjectures. From this variety of alternatives and conjectures, the intellect retains the best ideas for further development and communication. A growing cadre of scholars are offering evidence that one can characterize the way geniuses think. By studying the notebooks, correspondence, conversations, and ideas of the world's greatest thinkers, they have teased out particular common thinking strategies and styles of thought that enabled geniuses to generate a prodigious variety of novel and original ideas. About the Author Michael Michalko is a creativity expert who specializes in providing creative-thinking workshops for organizations.