Evolutionary Theories of Genius

3. 2. Evolutionary (from Lat. Evulutio - deployment) theories reveal the laws and mechanisms of genius formation as a result of the objective process of development of nature and culture. Evolutionary theories of creativity and genius are based on the conviction that the human role in creating the new does not differ from the role of nature, and the problem of creativity is a specific case of the problem of the emergence of the new in the process of evolution. At the same time, genius is viewed as a natural result, the “pinnacle” of cultural evolution. Evolutionary theory claims that genius is the result of the development of natural and cultural evolution, rooted in the nature of man, society and culture and is determined by the decisive contribution it makes to the progressive development of humanity. The basic principles of the evolutionary approach, which were proposed by C. Darwin, were applied by G. Spencer in relation to sociology, ethics and philosophy, in order to substantiate the development of all spheres of human existence in the natural sciences. At the same time, in modern theories, the gap between the "world of nature" and the "world of culture", between organic and cultural evolution is bridged by applying various theoretical and informational models of development.

3.2.1. Darwin's approach to the origin of genius (D. Simonton). The theory was based on the classical model of D. Campbell, which, based on the classical concept of C. Darwin, considered the creative process as the unity of the three stages: variations, selection and preservation of the most successful combinations.
D. Simonton argues that cultural evolution and environmental influences stimulate the emergence of genius. He emphasizes that evolution and natural selection in itself is an adequate model for understanding genius and argues that the work of creative genius is best understood as the Darwinian process of change and selection. D. Simonton says, "even a genius cannot avoid Darwinian reality, and the creative life itself consists of successes and blunders."
3.2.2. Creative evolution as self-organization. At the same time, the process of evolution is associated with the universal process of self-organization, in the context of which creativity and genius appear as overcoming chaos, as participating in the ecumenical process of creating qualitatively new patterns. (F. Barron, D. Feldman, G. Gardner, D. Simonton, R. May).
3.2.3. The cultural - ecological theory of creativity and genius asserts that where information was concentrated: Athens, Florence, Paris and various cultures intersected, creativity always flourished and geniuses were born (M. Chiksentmihali). The environment itself and the cultural and historical context not only facilitated and facilitated the expression of individual creativity, it initiated it, turning into an essential component of the creative process. The extraordinary flourishing of creativity in the Renaissance, M. Chiksentmihali explains that it manifested itself as a rediscovery, refinement, improvement of ancient art, by introducing it into a new context of more developed and richer socio-economic relations. According to M. Chixzentmihali, creativity is the equivalent of cultural evolution, and if the mechanism of biological evolution is the change of genes, then the basis of cultural evolution is the change of memes, of some clusters of information. It is in the change of memes and improvement to which laws, songs and values ​​can be attributed, and the essence of creativity consists.
3.2. 4. The theory of coincidence and chance. According to the theory of coincidence, culture is not made by great people, but by those whose characters and abilities coincide with the objective, urgent requirements of the era. Geniuses mainly generate creative resonance of their works with the current stage, developing according to their objective laws of the cultural environment, the compliance of their work with the challenges and needs of the era.
The fundamental objectivity of geniuses is confirmed by the phenomena of premature discoveries, among which are: the discovery of the heliocentric system by Aristarch of Samos at the beginning of the 3rd century. BC O., discoveries of G. Mendel, who gained fame and importance only with the emergence of genetics, the discovery of oxygen by Leferb, the hunch about the power of F. Bacon, the discovery of indiscriminate movement of pollen in water (Brownian motion) - R. Brown, who were unnoticed by scientific community, as well as premature and invaluable inventions of Leonardo da Vinci : helicopter, rifle, rolling mill, hydraulic press and parachute. At the same time, as T. Macaulay asserts: “If Luther were born in the tenth century, he would not be the initiator of the Reformation.”
This theory confirms a number of simultaneous and independently perfect re-discoveries in science. At the same time, simultaneous discoveries are solutions to fundamental problems that have been perpetrated by several scientists working in different countries and continents, and repeated discoveries are understood as identical discoveries that have been independently made over a period of time.

• Simultaneous and independent discovery of the theory of infinitesimal calculus or differential calculus was made by G. Leibniz, I. Newton, I. Barrow,
• B. Pascal and P. Fermat became founders of probability theory ,
• R. Mayer and D. Joule simultaneously formulated the universal law of conservation of energy,
• many of the laws of R. Hooke and V. Kelvin were subsequently rediscovered by other scientists,
• non-Euclidean geometry was developed by N.I. Lobachevsky and K. Gauss,
• oxygen was discovered by the inventor of the submarine K. Drebelbel (17th century), and then C. V. Scheele (1772), D. Priestley (1775) and A. Lavoisier (1775),
• C. Darwin and A. Wallace discovered the theory of natural selection,
• M. Curie and G. Schmidt simultaneously discovered radioactivity in thorium,
• Bor was discovered by G. Devi and J. Gay-Lussac,
• A.L. Chizhevsky and V.I. Anuchin formulated a theory of the coincidence of social crises with maxima of solar activity,
• the theory of the noosphere was proposed by E. Leroy, P.T. de Chardin and V.I. Vernadsky,
• R. Roberts and F. Sharp received the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine "for the discovery, independently of each other, of an intermittent gene structure" (1993).

This theory is also confirmed by the cases of repeated inventions:
• In 1268, Roger Bacon first described an optical instrument - a telescope.
• In 1509, Leonardo da Vinci made a drawing of a two-lens telescope,
• In 1558, the Italian inventor Jambattista della Porta, in his book “Natural Magic” gave a detailed description of the various uses of lenses
• In 1604, the Dutch master Zacharia Janssen built a telescope on a model that, according to him, came from Italy and on which it was written: "Year 1590". At the same time, his compatriot Jacob Metzius, looking at the children who were playing with the lenses, accidentally substituted glass into the tube and invented a telescope.
• On October 2, 1608, another Dutch spectacle master, Johann Lippershei, provided the General States of the Netherlands with the “Instrument for seeing at a distance”.
• In 1609, when Galileo heard about the achievements of one of the masters, he created his first telescope with a threefold magnification and launched it into production.
In 2008, during the celebration of the 400th anniversary of the invention of the telescope in the Netherlands, the honor of his invention was divided between Z. Jansen and I. Lippersgey.
Almost simultaneously, the following inventions were made:
• In 1870, Elisha Gray and Alexander Bell independently invented a telephone - a device capable of transmitting speech using electrical signals.
• Alexander Popov and Guglielmo Marconi in 1895 for the first time, independently of each other, carried out the transmission of radio signals.
• The invention of the camera is associated with the names of Louis Daguerre (France) and William Fox Talbot (England), who presented their devices in 1839. However, in 1826, the French inventor Joseph Nicephore Niepce made the first ever photo “View from the Window”.
This theory also considers genius as the result of an incredible set of circumstances, and a phenomenal play of chance, and the geniuses themselves as chosen ones of nature, destiny, or gods.
A whole series of, at first glance, “random” discoveries are a confirmation of this theory. For example opening:
• Americas H. Columbus,
• X-rays V. Roentgen,
• radioactivity - A. Becquerel,
• penicillin –A. Fleming
• saccharin - K. Falberg,
• microwave - P. Spencer.