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Leonardo-Darwin comparison.
#1
Leonardo-Darwin comparison.
(not sure whether this would be considered correct to be in the science forum so I put it in here). I was just wondering because a lot of Atheists (very probably most Atheists) consider Darwin to be one of the greatest Genius' of all time. And this includes me, I think he was too. I heard of a famous world-class scientist (I forget his name I'm afraid, I could go search for it and come back with his name here if any of you so wish) who said that he considered Darwin to be the "Greatest thinker of all time."
However, many think Leonardo Da Vinci was the greatest Genius and thinker (for his time) of all time. Many think he was the most overall talented man of all time too (I pretty much think this as well.) It seems as though anything he tried to do he could do at a world-class(or almost world class or even if short of world-class then certainly amazingly exceptional).
Leonardo Da Vinci is said to have invented many many things...including Scissors and the Snorkel being among his best.
Also as I'm sure you all know, he was an amazing painer and could also sculpt brilliantly (although probably not as well as Michaelangelo)...he was also apparently a fantastic Musician (and I don't see how the following could be true but) its said that he could pick up a musical instrument that he'd never learned to play before and just be an expert at it within fifteen minutes (I don't see how thats possible but I don't entirely rule it out for certain).
He was also an anatomist, architect, mathematician, engineer and botanist. He was a man of Nature and he was also a pacifist and a writer and very good at expressing himself. After he died, and I quote form Wikipedia:"Some twenty years after Leonardo's death, François was reported by the goldsmith and sculptor Benevenuto Cellini as saying: "There had never been another man born in the world who knew as much as Leonardo, not so much about painting, sculpture and architecture, as that he was a very great philosopher."[30]
I find Leonardo's writings oddly enough, not just philosophical, but also quite poetic, and he seemed to use a lot of metaphors and have a great understanding of them. However Leonardo didn't appear to like poetry when he described Poetry like this: "The poet ranks far below the painter in the representation of visible things, and far below the musician in that of invisible things." And here at wikiquote: "...If you, historians, or poets, or mathematicians had not seen things with your eyes you could not report of them in writing. And if you, O poet, tell a story with your pen, the painter with his brush can tell it more easily, with simpler completeness and less tedious to be understood. And if you call painting dumb poetry, the painter may call poetry blind painting. Now which is the worse defect? to be blind or dumb? Though the poet is as free as the painter in the invention of his fictions they are not so satisfactory to men as paintings; for, though poetry is able to describe forms, actions and places in words, the painter deals with the actual similitude of the forms, in order to represent them. Now tell me which is the nearer to the actual man: the name of man or the image of the man. The name of man differs in different countries, but his form is never changed but by death."
I apoligize for the long quote but I believe it to be both relevant and interesting.
Leonardo was an Italian Polymath and is described as 'The renaissance man' or even 'The first Modern mind/thinker'.
HOWEVER having said this, I think Darwin was a very highly intelligent man and I also think that Darwin's discovery was more important and profound and inspiring than any of Leonardo's discovery's/inventions..MAYBE more important, profound and inspiring than ALL of Leonardo's inventions and discoveries put together..
However I also admit that I know a lot more about Leonardo Da Vinci...although I believe I have atleast a fundamental understanding of evolution and natural selection. So this is just my opinion and I'd like anyone else who wants to, to give their opinion.
And one more thing, Leonardo was a few hundred years before Darwin, and he made many discoveries and very probably contributed greatly to the modern world and also the time that Darwin lived in. And if Leonardo had understood evolution and natural selection when he was alive - or if he was alive today then maybe Leonardo would be considered more intelligent/more talented or a genius than Darwin.
And like I said, I think Darwin's discovery was more ingenious than any of Leonardo's...and its hard to measure intelligence.
In conclusion, I think Darwin made perhaps the most profound and inspiring discovery (if not certainly one of the most profound) of all time.
But if I was to say who was the greatest thinker/most/talented/most intelligent overall...I think I'd probably say Leonardo...but thats just based on what I think.
So what do you think?
P.S: Info on Darwin at Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Darwin and info on Leonardo at Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonardo_da_Vinci.
P.P.S: Dunno if its a correct study but Tony Buzan did a study of the greatest Geniuses of all time and he ranked Leonardo at number 1...by quite a margin I think. Its atleast partly subjective and he could certainly be wrong though...its hard to judge these things.
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#2
RE: Leonardo-Darwin comparison.
Personaly, I find Enstien or Hawking more intresting. Intrestingly, Leonardo was an occultist. Not incredibly relivent to anything, but no less intresting.
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#3
RE: Leonardo-Darwin comparison.
(October 25, 2008 at 3:57 pm)dagda Wrote: Personaly, I find Enstien or Hawking more intresting. Intrestingly, Leonardo was an occultist. Not incredibly relivent to anything, but no less intresting.
I don't know much about Hawking...all I've really heard about him if I were to give the overall impression is: "A brief history of time you will either find to be very brilliant, very boring or brilliant but overall maybe a bit too intellectual and therefore also a bit boring"...thats my overall impression, but I can't really give my own opinion because I haven't actually READ a Brief History of Time or any other of his books.
I would agree with you in that IMO Einstein is very fascinating indeed...however I don't think I find him as interesting as Leonardo Da Vinci, other than the fact Einstein is more modern and therefore his science is more advanced. And that we have more information on Einstein because he was alive only last century whereas Leonardo died very nearly almost 500 years ago. IMO I do consider Leonardo to be overall the most talented man and greatest Genius that has ever lived - if you consider that he was like pretty totally amazing at everything. He was probably the greatest thinker of all time (if you consider the time he lived in, he'd have even information and tools to work with if he were alive today) IMO...
EDIT: Oh, I can't believe I forgot to mention it: I went to the 'Leonardo Da Vinci Expedition' in London a few years back, and it was amazing what I saw.
I saw under glass some of Leonardo's original notebooks. I also saw the REAL original of his famous self-portrait.
OMG though, I could not believe what I was witnessing when I was looking at a fantastic animation of Leonardo's drawings, and I heard that it wasn't edited or re-done in anyway, the frames were all identical copies of the exact sketches that Leonardo had done. His line work was so amazingly precise that all the frames ran together as an animation perfectly - even though they weren't designed to be animated and were purely hand-drawn sketches. Talent or what?
EDIT: My brother (who also went to the expedition) tells me that I was right it was the self portrait...so I've corrected and edited my uncertainty about that. And also in this post Wink
P.S: For those who don't know; I only learned recently myself: The 'Le' in Leonardo Da Vinci is pronounced 'Lay'.
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