The story of the fire thieves is the story of the genius

The important historian Plutarch wrote before Christ: "A work of art that succeeded in thickening milk does not necessarily mean that its creator deserves our appreciation." Reading this quote makes one reflect on the lives of those whom we have regarded as humans above humans, those whom we have given titles such as "great," "immortal," or "genius," and this prompts us to think about how much we do not know about their lives despite glorifying them and almost equating them with prophets, and we notice hesitation from writers and historians to record such facts publicly, perhaps because they are shy to mention such matters, or because they thought that mentioning them would diminish the genius's dignity and status. These thoughts made me wonder: what are the other things we do not know about their lives? What has been hidden from us? For example, over the centuries, there has been a strong belief that a genius is born that way: "a genius." And it seems that this belief still lingers in our collective mind, despite modern behavioral science and the study of geniuses' lives proving to us that these ideas belong to the same shelf where we placed the shallow earth idea and the zodiac as a great way to understand a person's character. There is much we do not know about geniuses, and perhaps the most important point in this discussion is that we do not have a clear definition of genius; it is not a clear role like teacher, engineer, or policeman, nor is it a vague principle like happiness, success, or love. Most of the time, if you ask several people for a definition, you will get varying answers (some will attribute it to innate talent, others to IQ, and others to inspiration), but investigating this topic shows us that the making of genius is more complex than we imagine, and while the formula for genius may be organic, it has specific, clear steps. Most importantly, even if a person meets the criteria of that formula, they may still fail to reach that level: genius.