3,900 Tigers

No one person can save the world,

we have to take turns because of how exhausting that is.

No one person can speak to the whole world,

the world is too complex and our voice and message will become too scattered.

We just need to keep speaking until the message of leaving bad ideas behind becomes less and less blurry.

Our problem is not so dissimilar

from the problem of a victim of a cult.

Our problem works on the same principle,

limited knowledge, limits our awareness,

limited awareness constricts us to a subset of reality.

A fine example of constricted reality,

are dark or medieval ages.

Five hundred years ago Human Beings were just as intelligent as we are,

they simply knew less, were aware of less.

The culture and popular beliefs were rooted, in less.

Another example is raising a child,

with the genetics of someone from 10,000 years ago; today.

Growing up today would make them, just an average person,

they would not wish to take a bite out of a Woolly Mammoth,

or hope to own a Giant Ground Sloth, not anymore than we do.

They'd appreciate the iPhone, in form of the model they appreciate the most,

and had they been made aware that they are of the Ice Age,

they'd sweetly and jokingly name their kitty cat, Scrat.

Our knowledge and the culture we grow up in, is extremely influential,

it decides how we develop, who we become, and what we recognize as reality.

A child born a couple of hundred years for now,

will struggle to understand our ignorance towards climate change.

In the schools of tomorrow, they will learn that we were victims,

of broken educational systems, and cultures that didn't encourage pursuit of Wisdom.

To put it simply, some things sneak into us based on the level of our knowledge,

and the height of development of the culture we are born into.

So are we really?

Geniuses.

This is very important, it is a very important single word answer,

to a very important question, that has great impact on the future of humanity.

We are Geniuses.

You know that man that is always wearing old clothes,

and kind of works in a corner, and acts a little odd.

He is also a genius.

He is dying from loneliness, his mind is warped from ages of overwork,

he can't really connect with people anymore because he has been feeling like an outsider for too many years,

he found comfort in his corner, where he is safe and where his life is simple.

But, should a chain of events push him,

he will shed the patina of isolation, he will force himself to inherit modern culture and lifetimes from books,

and genius will return, it will be fresh, raw, reignited, he may for a moment become the wisest being on earth.

That's what genius is,

a combination of unbreakability, and intellectual infinity.

In more general terms,

We are a very odd Form of Life compared to all the other animals on Earth,

we are self aware, and we are able to evaluate, and adjust, we are self enabling.

Ayn wrote,

"If a drought strikes them, animals perish - man builds irrigation canals;

if a flood strikes them, animals perish - man builds dams;

if a carnivorous pack attacks them, animals perish - man writes the Constitution of the United States."

We are struck by a culture that does not fully represent reality,

but we will not jump from the cliff, we will not merely age - business as usual.

We will learn, we will teach ourselves to become genius,

the easy-peasy way, by going on long adventures with a bunch of wise non-fiction books.

When our planet comes under attack, it will not perish,

for it holds a species of animal that can perceive it self, alter, and rise to heights unseen.

All it takes,

is for us to notice, that something is wrong.

Perhaps, taking it easy, would be OK,

if you were not capable, of becoming a Great Being.

if you were not a Genius, and a Powerful Thinker.

If you were unable to rise, to Inspire Generations,

to save the Planet for all the Children yet to be born,

and to repair schools so that they help humanity progress.

But ultimately taking it easy, can't be OK,

because that would disappoint the one person that truly does have all the authority over you,

that you really do not want to disappoint, in any way.

Your Elder Self...

Your elder self, will be incredibly disappointed in you,

if you fail to quickly shed all the stupid things sneaked into you by mis-education and questionable culture.

Your elder self, will be incredibly disappointed in you,

if you fail to learn to unfold your wings as a genius, and an intellectual.

Your elder self, will be incredibly disappointed in you,

if you fail to rise out of loneliness and isolation.

Your elder self, will be seriously pissed off,

if you mess this up.

Your elder self will know exactly who you could have become,

and where you made the wrong decisions that prevented you from becoming the person that they wish to be.

My Friends,

I wish there was more I could to to help you believe that you are each a genius.

But I can only give you the books.

I can't put the ear-buds in your ears and press play,

because to hear the books you have to slow down in life,

you have to begin questioning the things that were driving you,

and you have to become ready to listen,

and by that time you can press play on your own.

A genius is not an intellectual anomaly,

even Savants spend years mastering their tricks.

We are all capable of gaining Powerful Intelligence,

and we don't need schools for that,

just a mountain of down to earth books made heavy with lifetimes of wisdom.

You don't need to memorize Mathematical Formulas,

and the last place you want to learn about Biology, is Biology.

What you need is stories that teach you about the reasons behind the invention of mathematics,

and and an adventure where you re-invent mathematics from scratch, with the fantastic and magical ability to look some stuff up along the way.

You don't need to learn about the powerhouse of the cell,

you need to begin with Stromatolites, Panspermia, Evolution and Astrobiology.

Mitochondria used to be a separate organism, what an adventure to follow, what an honor to make new discoveries on that path.

My Friends,

You must begin your education by pushing everything that interferes with your Natural Genius away,

even if it is the city you live in, or school you are forced to go to.

And you must begin your life, knowing that you are a Powerful Genius,

in dire need for more books and audio books that will fuel your Wisdom.

As I write this,

there are only 3,900 tigers left.

Please, believe in your genius, and grow, my friend,

it is not just the tigers that need help,

the task at hand if far greater.

With ten million people in cages around the word,

we have to help children and students of today,

out of poverty, and towards real education,

so that they may have a chance at a fair start in life.