Genius say's Why?

So many people, through history, have attempted to define the term, I think in an effort to make it apply to themselves. That is not my desire, though I do have some thoughts on its definition. What I want out of this inquiry, is to tell what genius means to me. What makes another a genius, brilliant, and extraordinary. I think however, for the sake of clarity, I should delve into the clouded, murky waters of this topic.

Genius' (that’s the pluralization people), differ from prodigies. A prodigy is an individual who possess a heightened ability. We must point out though, that these are often in fields like math, music, chess, fields where after learning the concepts, the rest in natural ability. There are no prodigies in quantum physics, or engineering, or writing, because the concepts aren't enough to fully grasp the tasks at hand and start solving problems. A child can make mathematical discoveries after learning some things about math, the speed at which they make these is what makes them a prodigy. But we're digressing.

A genius is someone who sees with their mind. Musical genius' can visualize the sound waves in their head and feel the harmonies rightness, and mathematical ones can manipulate numbers unconsciously. Richard Feynman, a notable physicist who worked on the Manhattan project, said that he could see the functions he was working on interacting with one another. He describes it in such a way that even though they exist completely in his mind, they have a life of their own, his brain holds such an intimate and complete understanding of them her worked them out unconsciously. (I am not a physicist, nor have I read the book in which I read this for quite a while, so you'll forgive if I forgo citation). To me, there are only two things that make a genius. A mind which can learn something so completely, that it literally becomes part of them, an unconscious fifth limb, and the opportunity to confront a really unique and interesting problem. Statistically speaking, there are several thousand people with the same IQ as Steven Hawking and Albert Einstein walking around right now. What keeps them from getting noticed is that they never find their interesting problem.

Now for some fun with the definition. Levels of human experience are often ranked on a continuum, with genius and madness being almost indistinguishably separate. Does this mean sanity and stupidity are likewise closely related? Genius isn't even close to madness, and here is why; Sanity is simply an agreed upon way to perceive reality as defined by a majority of the population. If every one but you saw the moon as a giant smiling face, or the clouds as spaceships, they would look at you as if crazy if you were to tell them its a hunk of rock, or wisps of water vapor. They would be wrong to do so, since you can obviously test both hypothesis, but you'd still be crazy because everyone knows the "clouds" are where our robot masters live. So sanity is a matter of perceived reality and popularity, but what about when we delve into the part of reality we cannot see? Our brains don't all have the necessary materials to work out quantum physics from birth. So, a genius is someone who can see, through effort and ingenuity, to different levels of reality.