|
 Plasmid
Absent
Registered: 06/01/08
Posts: 1,719
Last seen: 15 years, 3 months
|
 War 
#9314792 - 11/26/08 12:46 AM (15 years, 4 months ago) |
|
|
I like peace. I am glad that I don't live in a country with conscription. I don't want to fight in war unless I feel that I have to.
Yet, I feel drawn to war. I fantasize about being in a situation where I feel that I have to go to war. If there were a situation that I felt was serious enough, then I would go to war. I realize, that for a person like me, the situation would have to be bad. I'd have to believe that I was really defending my home, my family, almost everything I hold dear. I don't understand why a part of me seems to wish that this kind of situation would arise.
I am fascinated by the second world war. I'm almost 30. The second world war ended more than thirty years before I was born. My parents were born AFTER that war: they're baby boomers. Yet, I watch documentaries about WWII and I feel something akin to nostalgia. I wish I had to have been there.
A few times I've been at bars and heard other men, older than me, but not nearly old enough to have been alive during WWII express the same sentiments. The last time, I just remember going for a smoke with some guy and he said, "There's just something about that war. I wish I'd been there."
Yet, I know that any way I imagine it, there's nothing fun about war. There's nothing to envy about a soldier's life.
I've read a social-evolutionary theory of why men like to go to war: what better way to spread your genes than to kill your (male) enemies, rape their women, then go home and find that you are now outnumbered by women. The men who survive go home to find that the female to male ratio has increased. Those who died may have had the chance to spread their genes by rape. Rates of rate apparently skyrocket during war.
Are my fantasies the result of human nature? The result of generation after generation after generation finding that, for the men who survived, war was a benefit.
WWII didn't kill the kind of proportion of men that wars used to. When tribes were small, there was a really good reason women didn't go to war: almost half the people who went into combat may have died. A society that has lost its men but not its women can easily repopulate. Women are the "limiting reagent" in terms of regenerating a population. Even if only one man out of a hundred came back, a society could adjust its moral standards and let those 1/100 men help repopulate society so that they didn't die out.
It's just odd, because when I fantasize about war, it has nothing to do with going home and finding that there are more women available. Violence just seems appealing, yet, I despise violence. I don't like hurting people.
What is it about war that appeals to men?
EDIT - "WWI" to "WWII"
--------------------
Absent.
Edited by Plasmid (11/26/08 01:26 AM)
|
 MisterMuscaria
Registered: 05/13/08
Posts: 27,646
Loc: 
|
Re: War [Re: Plasmid]
#9314848 - 11/26/08 12:55 AM (15 years, 4 months ago) |
|
|
I can relate
Edited by MisterMuscaria (11/26/08 01:25 AM)
|
Crasher
αἱρετίζω
Registered: 03/13/01
Posts: 6,220
Loc: Tardy to the Party
|
Re: War [Re: Plasmid]
#9314876 - 11/26/08 01:00 AM (15 years, 4 months ago) |
|
|
I just loved the simplicity of having your entire life reduced to the simplicity of bullets flying back and forth. Men testing their code of ethics against other men testing their code of ethics.
An open battlefield. Somehow it brings such inner peace and satisfaction. A sense of immediate completion in all facets of your life.
--------------------
Give me silence, water, hope;
Give me struggle, iron, volcanoes...
|
niteowl
GrandPaw
Registered: 07/01/03
Posts: 16,291
Loc:
|
Re: War [Re: Plasmid]
#9315011 - 11/26/08 01:31 AM (15 years, 4 months ago) |
|
|
Perhaps you died in WWII and were reincarnated in this life.
I have the same feelings about Vietnam, and believe that I was a South Vietnamese that was killed over there just as America was getting involved in the war.
--------------------
Live for the moment you are in nowDon't be bogged down by your pastDon't be afraid of what lies in your future
|
Plasmid
Absent
Registered: 06/01/08
Posts: 1,719
Last seen: 15 years, 3 months
|
Re: War [Re: Crasher]
#9315024 - 11/26/08 01:33 AM (15 years, 4 months ago) |
|
|
There is a beauty to simplicity. It's not about words or politics. It's just about two groups of terrified men trying to kill each other - trying to survive, help his buddies and not get killed in the process. Maybe it's just about survival. Maybe it's also about a desire to reach out. I can't imagine actually having to depend on other people for my life; to depend on another man just for survival and for food.
One documentary I watch has narration by a soldier, almost 30+ years after world war 2 saying something like, "I think it's one melancholy aspect of human nature but it's something that appeals to men. We like destroying things." I don't remember everything he says, but the voice-over is done to this footage of two Werhmacht soldiers torching Russian houses. They have flame-throwers. The houses are probably empty and they're torching them. Big grins on their faces. It's easy to destroy someone else's work and somehow so satisfying. Someone had to put so much effort into building that house but one tank shell can make it as though it never existed.
And it's odd, because I know I'm not alone in how I feel, but I aslo feel that I'm not alone in not being able to understand this desire. War could destroy all of us, yet I still feel that there are circumstances that would lead me to it and I can't quite figure out why. I don't want to hurt anyone. I don't enjoy seeing others suffer, yet something about being forced into war - not really forced but feeling obligated, to be in a situation where I had to kill others, completely appeals to me. It's a fantasy. As much as I know I don't like seeing others suffer, there are situations under which I could kill people with absolute impunity. Just to shoot a rifle at someone, blow his brains out and be able to never think about it again. Not to worry about legal repercussions. To be in a place where I felt I had to do it, that killing that person just wasn't wrong.
--------------------
Absent.
|
thekwazz
Calm.Collected.German
Registered: 09/01/08
Posts: 1,158
Loc: City of murder, GA
Last seen: 10 years, 11 months
|
Re: War [Re: Plasmid]
#9315065 - 11/26/08 01:42 AM (15 years, 4 months ago) |
|
|
This is going to sound terribly hippy of me but it's not and I'll explain why, but I think the only thing people should focus on when they think about war is how ridiculous and horrible it is. If everyone grew up knowing that war is definitely not an option, I just think things would be easier. I think WWII and plenty of other combat situations are a bit glorified in this country, but we have to remember it probably would have been different had we been nuked.
Problem is, I like to fight. When someone wants to fight me it's a huge rush and I practically egg it on every time. I've always thought about what I would do if I were drafted and sent over seas and I think I would be totally violent because of my history with fights and what not. I think in the heat of everything I would get a huge rush out of the simple game of win or lose. I don't like starting problems, but I like the thrill of them if that makes sense.
--------------------
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go on an overnight drunk, and in 10 days I'm going to set out to find the shark that ate my friend and destroy it. Anyone who wants to tag along is more than welcome.
|
SleepyF0x
I bleed nicotine...
Registered: 09/23/07
Posts: 4,150
|
|
i love war too - i wish wwiii and nuclear destruction would happen already!
--------------------
Everybody's a ninja...
|
The_Ghost
ゴースト
Registered: 03/27/07
Posts: 15,802
Loc: USG Ishimura
Last seen: 1 year, 1 month
|
Re: War [Re: Crasher]
#9315113 - 11/26/08 02:04 AM (15 years, 4 months ago) |
|
|
Quote:
Crasher said:
I just loved the simplicity of having your entire life reduced to the simplicity of bullets flying back and forth. Men testing their code of ethics against other men testing their code of ethics.
An open battlefield. Somehow it brings such inner peace and satisfaction. A sense of immediate completion in all facets of your life.
Well said. As horrible as war is, combat reduces our search for meaning and greatness to here and now - which it is in our greatest moments. It promotes the absence of fear and doubt, and the use of direct action, courage, detachment, and so fourth.
--------------------
/ / / / / / / LISTEN TO MY MUSIC: E X E D / / / / / / /
The universe gives no fucks. And takes no fucks.
May His Circuits Ever Function
|
aDoS
freedom lover
Registered: 06/18/05
Posts: 7,590
Loc: land of the free
|
Re: War [Re: Plasmid]
#9315256 - 11/26/08 03:46 AM (15 years, 4 months ago) |
|
|
I mostly think its from propaganda. I feel the same way sometimes, but then I think about it and realize how shitty it would be.
--------------------
"If we could sniff or swallow something that would, for five or six hours each day, abolish our solitude as individuals, atone us with our fellows in a glowing exaltation of affection and make life in all its aspects seem not only worth living, but divinely beautiful and significant, and if this heavenly, world-transfiguring drug were of such a kind that we could wake up next morning with a clear head and an undamaged constitution - then, it seems to me, all our problems (and not merely the one small problem of discovering a novel pleasure) would be wholly solved and earth would become paradise." - Aldous Huxley
 GIVE ME OPIATES OR GIVE ME DEATH
|
UnderTheOak
Grüße Von Der Orion
Registered: 11/13/08
Posts: 295
Loc: Holland
Last seen: 13 years, 5 months
|
Re: War [Re: aDoS]
#9315656 - 11/26/08 08:24 AM (15 years, 4 months ago) |
|
|
I've been interested in war since being a tiny one.
That all started with knight or soldier and playing with plastic soldiers and small metal airplanes. After getting somewhat older I started gathering information from books and documentaries. I was mainly interested in the weapons, especially airplanes and tanks. Gradually I got more and more interested in the other things related to the wars. Politics, economy, propaganda, heroism and such.
WWI and WWII are most "appealing" to me. It's a pity that most material is on the second world war, it even seems somewhat hard to get ahold of decent WWI information. Actually, most information on the second world war is onesided and, unfortunatly, often demonising the germans in general. The fact the information is quite onesided isn't really all that strange as most informational products on the second world war are made by the "Allies".
Edited by UnderTheOak (11/26/08 08:32 AM)
|
WhiskeyClone
Not here
Registered: 06/25/01
Posts: 16,509
Loc: Longitudinal Center of Canada ...
|
Re: War [Re: Plasmid]
#9315689 - 11/26/08 08:37 AM (15 years, 4 months ago) |
|
|
Quote:
Plasmid said:
What is it about war that appeals to men?
Physical dominance, self-righteous causes, focused hatred, heavy machinery, cool explosions... *Tim Allen grunt*
--------------------
Welcome evermore to gods and men is the self-helping man. For him all doors are flung wide: him all tongues greet, all honors crown, all eyes follow with desire. Our love goes out to him and embraces him, because he did not need it.
~ R.W. Emerson, "Self-Reliance"
|
AmericanPsycho
Abomination of Nature
Registered: 12/18/06
Posts: 8,501
Loc: Normandy SR2
Last seen: 4 years, 18 days
|
|
Quote:
UnderTheOak said:
Actually, most information on the second world war is onesided and, unfortunatly, often demonising the germans in general. The fact the information is quite onesided isn't really all that strange as most informational products on the second world war are made by the "Allies".
That's because the germans were fucking evil. They were murdering millions and millions of unarmed innocent people...
|
UnderTheOak
Grüße Von Der Orion
Registered: 11/13/08
Posts: 295
Loc: Holland
Last seen: 13 years, 5 months
|
|
Quote:
AmericanPsycho said:
Quote:
UnderTheOak said:
Actually, most information on the second world war is onesided and, unfortunatly, often demonising the germans in general. The fact the information is quite onesided isn't really all that strange as most informational products on the second world war are made by the "Allies".
That's because the germans were fucking evil. They were murdering millions and millions of unarmed innocent people...
There we go again, as expected.
I'm not trying to say they did good things, not at all. But why does every german soldier or even every inhabitant has to suffer from that. Several soldiers we're just sent to war without even agreeing on the whole thing. It's easy to say they we're all evil, easy but very narrowminded.
Before the war communism was fairly big in Germany. After the fire in the Reichstag, lit by a dutch communist, the're was a state of alarm. The nazi's gained all executive power during this state of alarm and they used this situation to make several political parties ILLEGAL.
So really, was every german or every german soldier evil? Perhaps SS soldiers were. But Wehrmacht soldiers? I highly doubt it.
[NOTE: I do NOT support the war crimes commited by the germans, nor do I approve those done by the Allies.]
Edited by UnderTheOak (11/26/08 08:59 AM)
|
d33p
Welcome to Violence
Registered: 07/12/03
Posts: 5,381
Loc: the shores of Tripoli
Last seen: 10 years, 10 months
|
|
Man:War::Woman:Maternity - Mussolini
Some say man is jealous of woman's ability to create life, so instead they seek to destroy it through war. War appeals to me because of my intense bloodlust. Mutual combat is the purest form of competition and will lend an honorable and fulfilling life to those who seek it.
--------------------
I'm a nihilist. Lets be friends.
bang bang
|
AmericanPsycho
Abomination of Nature
Registered: 12/18/06
Posts: 8,501
Loc: Normandy SR2
Last seen: 4 years, 18 days
|
|
Quote:
UnderTheOak said:
There we go again, as expected.
I'm not trying to say they did good things, not at all. But why does every german soldier or even every inhabitant has to suffer from that. Several soldiers we're just sent to war without even agreeing on the whole thing. It's easy to say they we're all evil, easy but very narrowminded.
Before the war communism was fairly big in Germany. After the fire in the Reichstag, lit by a dutch communist, the're was a state of alarm. The nazi's gained all executive power during this state of alarm and they used this situation to make several political parties ILLEGAL.
So really, was every german or every german soldier evil? Perhaps SS soldiers were. But Wehrmacht soldiers? I highly doubt it.
I agree, not all of the germans were evil. There's even a movie that was made about that fact right now called "Valkyrie" coming out next month.
|
SvampViking
Går med pumor
Registered: 08/26/08
Posts: 617
|
Re: War [Re: Plasmid]
#9315792 - 11/26/08 09:10 AM (15 years, 4 months ago) |
|
|
"What is greatest in life?"
"To crush my enemies, see them driven before me, and hear the lamentations of their womenfolk."
For me it would have been the Viking age. A bunch of farmers held the known world by the throat for nearly three centuries. That speaks for itself.
--------------------
The human experience is such that we are caught between being monkies and gods. It is up to us to decide which direction to go in.
Everything is everything, and everything is becoming itself.
|
UnderTheOak
Grüße Von Der Orion
Registered: 11/13/08
Posts: 295
Loc: Holland
Last seen: 13 years, 5 months
|
|
I haven't heard about "Valkyrie" yet.
There's a dutch movie called Zwartboek which came out not all that long ago. It focusses on how some dutchies lived with the Germans. It's not favoring our own people (unlike in many other movies) and makes you see that even lots of dutch people did pretty nasty things during the war. I'm definetly not saying it's the most historically correct war movie, but at least it looks at things from a different view.
There's one war movie which I'd recommend to everyone interested in wars: I'm Westen Nichts Neues (also known as: All Quiet On The Western Front). This one is actually about WWI and shows that all the soldiers we're actually on the same boat, no matter what side they we're on. The hopelessness of this war is put onto film in a brilliant way.
|
AmericanPsycho
Abomination of Nature
Registered: 12/18/06
Posts: 8,501
Loc: Normandy SR2
Last seen: 4 years, 18 days
|
|
|
ABC
Stranger
Registered: 11/16/08
Posts: 1,439
Last seen: 1 year, 11 months
|
|
There really is something so primal about fighting. It's really exciting to be in that sort of situation, but you cant forget about all the atrocities and the problems.
I always fantasized about going to war, but it's probably because of the way it's been romanticized over time by writers and propaganda. idk
-abc
|
Irdamage
Autobot
Registered: 11/19/05
Posts: 1,491
Loc: Canada
Last seen: 7 years, 4 months
|
Re: War [Re: ABC]
#9315894 - 11/26/08 09:46 AM (15 years, 4 months ago) |
|
|
Perhaps war is glamorized too much in media? (I don't mean glamorized in the sense that they make it look like a high school party) but more in the sense that the idea of being a hero or a martyr in battle is glorified through our access to media, which indirectly is the only way for a civilian to experience war without being a victim of it. Almost exclusively in North America and major parts of Europe and Asia. Most other nations deal with war as a daily reality rather than as a story or fairy tale that their ancestors were involved in.
I have personally never seen the effects of war first hand (I thank my lucky stars) and would never consider or be conscripted into joining one.
I could not judge someone for voluntarily choosing to go to war if they're village was destroyed and their families killed in the process, and even then it is still often by force that people join. I do judge the people who sign up to go to war in a foreign nation with the half-assed excuse of defending their nation, who hide behind a vail of "pride and glory of war"
We have roots in a very aggressive and dominant culture by nature. (North Americans) Its what happens with a national history/culture which descends from Europe and has its own history of rebellion and independence.
I think personally that this affects the view points of many people living in these nations to this day. Despite our better efforts and improved intelligence were still a product of our environment.
Which also brings up the fact that until quite recently its been considered extremely taboo and disrespectful to question the futility of war out of respect for those who died to "defend the freedoms we enjoy".
Edited by Irdamage (11/26/08 09:56 AM)
|
Plasmid
Absent
Registered: 06/01/08
Posts: 1,719
Last seen: 15 years, 3 months
|
|
Quote:
UnderTheOak said:
Actually, most information on the second world war is onesided and, unfortunatly, often demonising the germans in general. The fact the information is quite onesided isn't really all that strange as most informational products on the second world war are made by the "Allies".
Check out the documentary named The World at War. I think it is very fair to the German and Japanese people. There is an excellent episode titled Inside the Reich where ordinary German citizens were interviewed and asked about, for example, what they knew of the death camps. I get the sense that most Germans didn't know what went on at death camps from first hand experience, but were more than a little suspicious about what "resettlement" in the East meant for Jews. It seems quite clear that any German citizen who wrote an angry letter to Hitler about his mistreatment of Jews would have probably just ended up in the camps.
Whiskey,
I read a book by Steven Pinker titled The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature and the author suggests that the appeal of war evolved due to the "Hobbesian Trap" (I think it was Hobbes). Basically, it starts out with the basic desire to survive and the awful realization that your neighbors may be thinking of slaughtering you. This then leads you to think that the best way to survive is to slaughter your neighbors before they kill you. The men go off to war and kill the neighboring civilization's men and abduct the women, bringing them home as their own. The men who survive would be able to continue spreading their genes. I suspect that rape is influenced by genetics - not that there is a singular gene for rape but that there is a genetic basis for environmental conditions that influence one's likelihood to commit rape.
--------------------
Absent.
|
doom876
Stranger
Registered: 08/01/08
Posts: 2,043
Last seen: 14 years, 2 months
|
|
Quote:
Plasmid said:
What is it about war that appeals to men?
We all have a base instinct deep inside that likes such things. It's the inner beast. Only fools go this path though.
--------------------
Fight for a large loving government that can take care of its people, kill our criminals, and preform the huge industrial tasks our corporate overlords refuse(wanna greenwash me some more Exon?)
Not this weak travesty that let millions starve and sucks corporate cock while failing at every turn.
|
Plasmid
Absent
Registered: 06/01/08
Posts: 1,719
Last seen: 15 years, 3 months
|
|
Quote:
UnderTheOak said:
I haven't heard about "Valkyrie" yet.
I don't think I'll see it. It stars Tom Cruise. Cruise plays Claus von Stauffenberg who attempted to kill Hitler. Every picture I've seen of Stauffenberg makes him seem tall. Tom Cruise is quite short.
I think American Psycho's first generalization goes way too far. Certainly Germans did commit horrible crimes and there is no excuse for it, but I don't think that the whole country can be blamed for it. I read Krystalnacht by Martin Gilbert and he documents the fact that most of the attacks that night were carried out by the SS (or was the SA still around then?). Some ordinary German citizens were appalled and others cheered them on. Still, how many other countries opened their doors to Jews who wanted to leave Germany? Anti-semitism was so pervasive that many governments didn't want to let Jews in to their country because of popular sentiment.
Another film I recommend is Decision Before Dawn which came out in the early 1950s, I believe. It's about a young German soldier who was taken prisoner by the allies in Europe in late 1944 or early 1945 and volunteers to go back and carry out sabotage for the allies. Apparently, this is based on events which actually happened. The young soldier explains that he wants to help the allies because he believed it would be best for Germany to lose the war as quickly as possible. It's a pretty good film.
--------------------
Absent.
|
Crasher
αἱρετίζω
Registered: 03/13/01
Posts: 6,220
Loc: Tardy to the Party
|
Re: War [Re: doom876]
#9318640 - 11/26/08 06:55 PM (15 years, 4 months ago) |
|
|
Quote:
doom876 said:
Quote:
Plasmid said:
What is it about war that appeals to men?
We all have a base instinct deep inside that likes such things. It's the inner beast. Only fools go this path though.
Easy to judge.
--------------------
Give me silence, water, hope;
Give me struggle, iron, volcanoes...
|
SleepyF0x
I bleed nicotine...
Registered: 09/23/07
Posts: 4,150
|
|
Quote:
Irdamage said:
Perhaps war is glamorized too much in media? (I don't mean glamorized in the sense that they make it look like a high school party) but more in the sense that the idea of being a hero or a martyr in battle is glorified through our access to media, which indirectly is the only way for a civilian to experience war without being a victim of it. Almost exclusively in North America and major parts of Europe and Asia. Most other nations deal with war as a daily reality rather than as a story or fairy tale that their ancestors were involved in.
I have personally never seen the effects of war first hand (I thank my lucky stars) and would never consider or be conscripted into joining one.
I could not judge someone for voluntarily choosing to go to war if they're village was destroyed and their families killed in the process, and even then it is still often by force that people join. I do judge the people who sign up to go to war in a foreign nation with the half-assed excuse of defending their nation, who hide behind a vail of "pride and glory of war"
We have roots in a very aggressive and dominant culture by nature. (North Americans) Its what happens with a national history/culture which descends from Europe and has its own history of rebellion and independence.
I think personally that this affects the view points of many people living in these nations to this day. Despite our better efforts and improved intelligence were still a product of our environment.
Which also brings up the fact that until quite recently its been considered extremely taboo and disrespectful to question the futility of war out of respect for those who died to "defend the freedoms we enjoy".
i think that's pretty much spot on. 
as a kid growing up most people are taught to look up to soldiers as "protectors" and all that bullshit. and of course "killin' the bad guys" and other such partisan bullshit.
looking back on wars is romantic, but to actually be in a war must be horrific.
my motto is, "anyone whose blood runs as red as mine is my brother."
--------------------
Everybody's a ninja...
|
WhiskeyClone
Not here
Registered: 06/25/01
Posts: 16,509
Loc: Longitudinal Center of Canada ...
|
|
--------------------
Welcome evermore to gods and men is the self-helping man. For him all doors are flung wide: him all tongues greet, all honors crown, all eyes follow with desire. Our love goes out to him and embraces him, because he did not need it.
~ R.W. Emerson, "Self-Reliance"
|
UnderTheOak
Grüße Von Der Orion
Registered: 11/13/08
Posts: 295
Loc: Holland
Last seen: 13 years, 5 months
|
|
Quote:
Plasmid said:
Quote:
UnderTheOak said:
Actually, most information on the second world war is onesided and, unfortunatly, often demonising the germans in general. The fact the information is quite onesided isn't really all that strange as most informational products on the second world war are made by the "Allies".
Check out the documentary named The World at War. I think it is very fair to the German and Japanese people. There is an excellent episode titled Inside the Reich where ordinary German citizens were interviewed and asked about, for example, what they knew of the death camps. I get the sense that most Germans didn't know what went on at death camps from first hand experience, but were more than a little suspicious about what "resettlement" in the East meant for Jews. It seems quite clear that any German citizen who wrote an angry letter to Hitler about his mistreatment of Jews would have probably just ended up in the camps.
I'll be on the lookout for it. And yes, there were quite an amount of political prisoners.
After the fire in the Reichstag, which was of great importance to the situation in germany, several political parties we're made illegal. This paved the way for the nazi's as they got rid of their biggest political enemies.
Quote:
Plasmid said:
I think American Psycho's first generalization goes way too far. Certainly Germans did commit horrible crimes and there is no excuse for it, but I don't think that the whole country can be blamed for it. I read Krystalnacht by Martin Gilbert and he documents the fact that most of the attacks that night were carried out by the SS (or was the SA still around then?). Some ordinary German citizens were appalled and others cheered them on. Still, how many other countries opened their doors to Jews who wanted to leave Germany? Anti-semitism was so pervasive that many governments didn't want to let Jews in to their country because of popular sentiment.
During the night of the long knives, in 1934 the SA leaders we're killed. After that Lutze became leader of the SA. The SA was cleansed, the amount of members was almost reduced by 2/3. And yes, the SA was still around during Kristallnacht, it performed the actions.
Another thing to think about:
The hate towards jews is NOT something which exclusively applied to the Nazi's. It's something which had been going on for many centuries.
|
|
Threaded
Previous
Index
Next
Unfolding Nature: Being in the Implicate Order 
Red Vein Kratom 
All-In-One Bags That Don't Suck 
Isolated Cubensis Liquid Culture For Sale 
Feminized Cannabis Seeds
Edit 
Reply 
MOTH
LSDempire
Learyfan
1 2 3 all )
Asante
Adamist
ISH
Genius