For about the past four hours, I have been perusing 11 Points, which is one of the most addictive things on the Internet next to Cracked and Wikipedia. I love it dearly. Sam (author of 11 Points) knows when some things just speak for themselves...sometimes, as a blogger (for lack of a more formal word), your job is simply presentation. Sometimes, you do not have to have a witty caption, or a snarky comment. Sometimes, you have to let the wonders of the Internet speak for themselves: it could be that there is nothing left to say. I quote Albert Einstein: "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits."

Now, I am kind of a major supporter in education's rallying cry for little things like funding. We, as educated citizens of the Earth, can enjoy the simple things in life. Being literate is one of them. We can enjoy little things like literacy and simple math. But alongside the little guys, there is equally enormous respect for the geniuses. The true geniuses that embrace their education and take it beyond the high school level, or beyond the whatever-degree-will-get-me-a-job level. Those who are passionate about learning, and most of all, who know that their education is a never-ending journey -- one that won't ever stop or slow down. These people are geniuses. These people bring both their lives and the human race to their fullest potential in the quest of knowledge, wisdom and creativity.

Similarly, there are people who tire and toil endlessly to prove their species' potential for absolute stupidity. And well...sometimes you have to admire this. Sometimes their achievements will awe and inspire generations to come. Humanity has the capacity to achieve so much, that the only areas ever paid much attention to are the extremes. No average Joe ever went down in history: historic figures are either incredibly brilliant, or impressively stupid. Astoundingly mediocre never did anything for anyone. If you can't even try, don't even think about being on the front page. Your successes have to be fantastic -- and your failures commendable.

While I often go on about hating technology and my desire to become a twenty-first century Luddite, I do believe that the internet has allowed us -- the human race -- to remember what we are capable of. We can put a man on the moon!-- in the same year we elect one of the biggest professional crooks in history to lead a global superpower. That's just one tiny example, just one. You could spend a lifetime perusing the internet and you wouldn't get through it. It documents so many successes of human knowledge and creativity: there are brilliant artists and philosophers and commentators out there that, in their own little way, pushed the bar for humanity further. Almost entirely undiscovered-- but there, and pushing and pushing for just one more drop of sweat and pride. There are geniuses out there...while, y'know, at the same time, there are things like fanfiction and MySpace and the duckface, and Fred Phelps and 4chan: the most impressive cesspools of humanity ever discovered and shown to the world. And were it not for the internet, how could we know about the capacities of humanity? How could we realise our potential-- on either end of the spectrum? You don't have to be in history books to be remembered-- some gems will be remembered as fantastic examples of human capacity: such as Banksy, for revolutionary art and commentary; and "My Immortal", for brutally massacring the English language and the three-legged mutt it rode in on.

Without the internet, we could not witness these pinnacles of human greatness-- whether in success or failure. We could not be reminded -- properly -- of our capacity as a race. While the history books will show human greatness on a much larger scale, it is sometimes comforting to see how these things affect us at home. That we, as little people, just citizens of the Earth, also hold great potential; that we also can push the bar much lower or much higher for what humanity can achieve. And as we push forth into the new millennium (and the bowels of the Internet), it seems that we have no limit to what we can prove to the world.

Signing off,
Mara

It is definitely bedtime...

PS: Thanks to Sam for knowing when the smelly wonders of humanity are best left untouched. There is a time to prod; and a time to watch, and wait.