Issue 36
The greatness of individuals can be decided only by those who live after them,
not by their contemporaries.
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Who can give the most reasonable criterion of a great individual? The assertio
n that the greatness of individuals can be estimated only by those who live af
ter them, not their contemporaries is fundamentally justifiable. Because the h
istory of human civilization and technology advance not along a direct line in
one flat plane, but along a mysterious spiral ladder in a three dimension wor
ld. Those who live after them can evaluate them from a broader and more object
ive perspective.

The primary reason for my agreement lies in the fact that the discovery and in
novation advances in a zigzag path. Arthur C. Clark once suggested that a revo
lutionary idea passes through three phases: 1'It is impossible, do not waste m
y time'; 2 'It is possible, but not worth doing'; 3 'I said it was a good idea
all along'. Usually, the more important the discovery or innovation is, the l
onger the phases may last. Two realms of fact can aptly illustrate this concl
usion. First, it is most obvious in the science and technology field. The gift
ed biologist McClintock got the invaluable Nobel Prize when she was more than
eighty years. But her great discovery of the mechanism of corn genome was fini
shed when she was still young. Her contemporary could not understand her resea
rch, and even laughed at her erratic in the theory. Fortunately, she lived lon
g enough to see the public embraced her theory. Yet, in the art realm, the gen
ius Vincent Van Gogh is not so lucky. When he lived, people just deemed him as
an eccentric painter, idiosyncratic Dutch, or a weird civilian. But now, his masterpie
ce the Night Cafe, the Sunflower shed light on his great reputation from the w
orld which had been contempt to all his life. The two examples above demonstr
ate that the contemporaries are often biased on the genius; they are confined
in the abyss carved by the traditional attitude and conventions.

Nevertheless, on the other hand, because some values and criterions are eterna
l, the balance of judgment never collapses. In some circumstances, the benefit
s are so apparent that it is not necessary to wait the overdue comment and eul
ogy. First consider the technology, the Apollo 11 triumphantly finished the lu
nar landing mission and the words "That is one small step for man, and one gia
nt leap for the mankind” uttered by Armstrong the first man set foot on the m
oon is the milestone in the history of outer space explanation; with the adven
t of the semiconductor, the silicon valley boosted the California to the Golde
n State and gave the America a jump on its foreign rivals. Moreover, in the ar
t realm, Picasso got the international reputation all his life; the prodigy Mo
zart is outstanding ever since the debut when he was just a child. The modern
business also witnessed Joyce's success because the personal computer dream ca
me true with the coming of the cute Macintosh. The friendly operating system W
indows by the Microsoft Corporation made greatest the miracle.

In summary, the wheels of time and space spin with accelerating and eternal v
elocity, history will yield all the truth .Some eminent names dilute or even d
isappear with the elapse of time, while the real greatness emit the perpetual
fragrance with the time.