I built a cold fusion laser out of Legos...

Everyone wonders what the purest intellect is. Is it mathematics, simplifying everything to numbers? Perhaps art, expressing things through emotion? What about science, forming theories that govern the world? No, rather, I find that there is a purer intellect that anyone would have ever imagined somewhere in front of all of us. It is easily lost, and very difficult to decipher. And it lies in babies.

Yes, babies. Those little drooling ankle biters that everyone thinks are so cute. Have you ever watched an infant stare at something and wonder what is going through its little mind? Ever watch a baby stare at itself in a mirror and question what it thinks it's seeing? I've wondered that. And I think I have an answer.

Babies are secretly geniuses. Now, before you jump down my throat, and say how they're just confused by how they just have underdeveloped minds, hear my argument. First off, I know that everyone has heard the old expression "a product of your environment" or something to that extent. Something stating that we see the world based on how we are told to view it; viewing things by how we are raised, etc. Yes? Thought so. Now, look at babies. How are they influenced? All they see is a doctor pulling them out of the womb and then different parts of a hospital. They're not told anything. In the home, a baby learns by experience. If it falls, or hits its head, its reaction is based on how the parents react. Otherwise, they are left to their own conclusions.

Really, a baby is a product of the universe. They are not influenced by anything but their parents. A baby experiences hunger. It doesn't necessarily know that it needs to eat something, it's just aware of the sensation of hunger. But as a child, our parents fed us when we experienced this discomfort. Then, the baby begins to associate the sensation of hunger with being fed by its parents. Subsequently, the child is raised to feed itself. And thus, the habituation of eating when hungry is formed.

But food is not the only thing. Look at politics. If a child is raised in a right wing household, it's possible that the child may follow in the footsteps of its parents, using similar arguments to justify things from a right wing point of view. Defending the war in Iraq, arguing against President Obama, etc. Or, there is another side of the coin. A child might develop disdain for their parental politics. They might begin to drink the Obama Kool-Aid, and start making arguments that support the liberal president. They might support an increase in welfare and other left wing politics, despite their parental objections. Regardless of the actual outcome, it proves one thing. As we grow up, we're influenced by our environment, our surroundings, our upbringings.

Now to the actual argument here: baby geniuses. Those little buggers are quite possibly the most worldly people out there. They have no frame of reference to see the world through. They are the purest minds out there. William Blake even wrote a juxtaposition of the "Songs of Innocence" versus the "Songs of Experience", the first implying the "innocence" of childhood is lost as an individual gains "experience". And it's true. A child, at birth, is not only a screaming ball of flesh covered in sticky goo, but rather, an unshapen blob of potential. Potential to see the world through unrestricted eyes.

With such potential, there is no end to what a baby can do. They aren't tainted by perspectives of how to do things. We need to learn how to decipher their pure thoughts. It may not be the most "intellectual" thing that you may hear. But really, your intellect is biased by whatever you've shaped it to be.

While you're at it, leave those Lincoln Logs there. Baby Johnny might be needing them to make an anti-gravity skateboard.

-Matt