“The mind is its own place, and in itself, can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven.” John Milton must have been high on something when he said these words. The accuracy and truth they carry sound oddly reminiscent of the cosmic levels of wisdom that comes with the disconnection from reality which tends to stem from being intoxicated in some way or form. The changes that have driven progress for millennia all have one thing in common. While I am tempted to attribute this to great minds like Leonardo Da Vinci, a huge chunk of it also came from the most unlikely of places. Crazy, unsavory, power-hungry, desperate, and even simply curious people have contributed more than can be quantified. The legends hidden or ignored by history books may just be responsible for the comforts we enjoy today.
A certain elegance emerges in the human mind and becomes apparent the harder you look at life today when compared to past events. Our ability to alter our very way of life based on conveniences brought by one person’s ideas and opinions is not to be underestimated. Just look at the impact standardization of production of paper had on society as a whole. Gone are the days when it was a valuable commodity reserved only for the wealthy. When the knowledge they contained could only be accessed by elites. Some dude named Johannes Gutenberg in the mid-1400s can, in some ways, be considered the father of modern education. As the inventor of the printing press which advanced reading to the point where it can even become a simple pass time for anyone and everyone, his humble contribution had far-reaching implications.
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Did you know that stuff like the microwave, X-ray machines, penicillin, dynamite, and even viagra and brandy were invented by mistake? Sometimes the general assumption is that every convenience we enjoy today came from some genius working day and night to test and retest ideas till they created something epic. But the fun truth is that they come from any and everywhere. Just by seeking a simple solution to an everyday problem, we have been able to create a sustainable and increasingly convenient lifestyle for ourselves in the modern world with shrinking biases and restrictions to what we as individuals can do with our thoughts and ideas. Once upon a time, cultural beliefs confined women and all their potential to a tiny box called a home where she was meant to spend a majority of their adult life, Africans were considered to be backward, conflict over religious beliefs was commonplace, and being part of the LGBTQ community was punishable by death in some nations.
While these belief and value-based systems may have resulted in an astronomical waste of human resources, potential, and intellect, they still played a key role in our journey as a species. The seemingly low impact act of convincing people that a certain distinction between right and wrong is the right way to live generated entire cultures and contributed to the rise and fall of various empires across history. Today, a more open-minded society is slowly developing. One in which your ideas and opinions receive various channels through which you can be heard and evaluated by people from across all walks of life. This has advanced to the point where innovation, creativity, and unique opinions and viewpoints are highly sought after instead of buried.
And honestly, gaining approval from the relevant communities is no longer enough to kill a concept or idea. Micro-communities now appear out of thin air just to explore the limits and potential carried by an idea. We are quickly learning that there are always people out there who are as crazy or even crazier than you are. Minds that are willing to join you on your wild journey into the unknown realm of imagination and conceptualization where there exists no trails or beaten paths. The subtle art of speculation and the ability to imagine non-existent realities are key cornerstones to coming up with interesting livelihoods.
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