> History (ancient and recent) is full of geniuses who came up with a revolutionary idea largely on their own - that’s why the archetype even exists in the fir

> History (ancient and recent) is full of geniuses who came up with a revolutionary idea largely on their own - that’s why the archetype even exists in the first place (Aristotle, Newton, Darwin, Einstein to name the most obvious examples). Wait, what now? One of Newton's most famous quotes is, "if I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants" directly acknowledging his debt to those who came before him. Furthermore, Newton invented calculus at roughly the same time as Leibniz (independently) discovered the same mathematical principles. To me, that strongly suggests that the groundwork had been laid and somebody (or multiple somebodies!) was ripe to make the breakthrough. That doesn't mean Newton wasn't a genius, but I think it does suggest that the "Great Man theory of history" is false. Even geniuses are products of their environment and no genius is singular and irreplaceable. Picking another example from the list above, Wallace independently proposed many of elements of the theory of natural selection: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zwvpsg8/revision/1 https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zwvpsg8/revision/1