Why Fools Have Contributed More To Our Wellbeing Than All The Geniuses Combined

An exceptionally intelligent person or one with exceptional skill in a particular area of activity is referred to as a genius. Societies that have plenty of such people are normally progressive and tend to lead better lifestyles than those without these smart people.

Similarly, the opposite of genius describes a fool. There are perhaps more words that describe fools than those that depict geniuses. And much as the exceptionally gifted people have contributed to our advancement across the board, the fact remains that fools have outperformed them on inventions count, including that of sliced bread.

Let's face it, many things that we enjoy today were invented or discovered by accident. Under normal circumstances, accidents are major risks that need mitigation. Education is one such way of mitigating accidents through the methodical impartation of knowledge and principles. Those that work outside such frameworks aren't fools but their unconventionality tempts many to see them as such.

In the world of medicine, much as great care is taken to isolate compounds with medicinal value, our traditional medicine men who've relied on cause-effect approaches for eons, have cured patients for long without having stepped into any formal institution. This brings to question the true definition of a fool.

In some instances, people attempting suicide ended up recovering from hitherto incurable conditions. That is a case of fools wanting to die—getting cured of their burdensome conditions instead.

Trial and error has no stroke of genius but many celebrated people, bask in this reverence from accidental discoveries. Some useful accidents led to penicillin, viagra, plastic, vaseline, the strikeable match, gun powder, corn flakes and anaesthesia. Some of these were under controlled experiments gone bad. Genius has no room for error.

Chances are that if we were living the life of five centuries ago, you wouldn't be reading this article on your smartphone. Maybe you'd be on a stone listening to stories from elders and peers, whilst scantily dressed, if at all. You'd not have a wristwatch, phone, shirt, trousers, and those underneath essentials as well.

Perhaps you wouldn't have shoes and won't be spotting your favourite haircut or hairstyle. That's the description of the raw mandingo type —known more by natural attributes than by how well they've embraced the trappings of modern life. You can count the geniuses who've brought us this far, but the fools responsible for most of the discoveries abound.

The moral of this article is to help us accept the fact that everyone in this world has a role to play in making it a better place for us all.

We have smart fools in our political class. They are intelligent at the individual level, but collectively, they are a total disgrace. My observation is that those like the little mice, Sniff and Scurry, in Dr. Spenser Johnson's book, Who Moved My Cheese, the less educated guys do better in politics.

But the Hem and Haw types with plenty of education, end up disappointing us. John Major was one of Britain's least educated Prime Ministers, yet, he navigated Britain successfully through some tough times.

This is incomplete without mentioning Sir Winston Churchill, arguably Britain's most successful Prime Minister, despite his poor grades in school locking the doors to university for him. You don't have to be an engineer to lead a country, even a blacksmith's apprenticeship certificate is enough. What matters are the sacrosanct structures around the leader.

But the foolish leader must also accept counsel if they must save their citizens from the aftershocks of stupid decision-making. Let us take it upon ourselves to sharpen our fools. They will do us proud.