The Myth of the Lone Genius
Yolg‘iz daho afsonasi
Sarlavha va pastdagi so‘zlarga qarang. Matn nima haqida bo‘lishi mumkin? Bir daqiqa o‘ylab ko‘ring — bu miyani o‘qishga tayyorlaydi.
Buyuk kashfiyotlar yolg‘iz dahodan emas, jamoa va davr muhitidan kelib chiqishi haqida esse.
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Our culture loves the story of the lone genius. Isaac Newton, sitting under an apple tree, suddenly grasps the law of gravity; Thomas Edison, working through the night, invents the light bulb; a solitary programmer in a garage creates a technology that changes the world. These stories are memorable and inspiring, and they flatter a deep-seated belief that history is shaped by exceptional individuals. They are also, for the most part, misleading.
Madaniyatimiz yolg‘iz daho haqidagi hikoyani yaxshi ko‘radi. Olma daraxti ostida o‘tirgan Isaak Nyuton birdan tortishish qonunini anglaydi; tun bo‘yi ishlagan Tomas Edison cho‘g‘lanma lampani ixtiro qiladi; garajdagi yolg‘iz dasturchi dunyoni o‘zgartiradigan texnologiya yaratadi. Bu hikoyalar esda qolarli va ilhomlantiruvchi bo‘lib, tarixni g‘ayrioddiy shaxslar shakllantiradi degan chuqur ildiz otgan ishonchni erkalaydi. Ular, shuningdek, aksariyat hollarda chalg‘ituvchidir.
Consider the phenomenon that sociologists call “multiple discovery”: the remarkably frequent occurrence of the same breakthrough being made independently by different people at roughly the same time. Newton and Gottfried Leibniz developed calculus separately and spent years in a bitter dispute over priority. Charles Darwin was spurred to publish his theory of evolution by natural selection only when he received a letter from Alfred Russel Wallace outlining almost the same idea. On a single day in 1876, both Alexander Graham Bell and Elisha Gray filed documents with the American patent office concerning the telephone.
Sotsiologlar “ko‘p martalik kashfiyot” deb ataydigan hodisani ko‘rib chiqing: bir xil kashfiyotning turli odamlar tomonidan taxminan bir vaqtda mustaqil ravishda qilinishi hayratlanarli darajada tez-tez uchraydi. Nyuton va Gotfrid Leybnits differensial va integral hisobni alohida-alohida ishlab chiqishgan va ustuvorlik bo‘yicha yillar davomida achchiq bahslashishgan. Charlz Darvin o‘zining tabiiy tanlanish orqali evolyutsiya nazariyasini faqat Alfred Rassel Uolllesdan deyarli xuddi shu g‘oyani bayon qilgan xat olgandagina nashr etishga undalgan. 1876-yilning bir kunida Aleksandr Grem Bell ham, Elisha Grey ham Amerika patent idorasiga telefon haqidagi hujjatlarni topshirishgan.
Such coincidences suggest that major discoveries are less the product of solitary inspiration than of circumstances. When the necessary knowledge, tools and questions are in place, a discovery becomes, in a sense, “ripe”, and several people may reach for it at once. Newton himself acknowledged this when he wrote, in a phrase he borrowed from earlier writers, that if he had seen further, it was “by standing on the shoulders of giants”.
Bunday tasodiflar buyuk kashfiyotlar yolg‘iz ilhomdan ko‘ra sharoitlarning mahsuli ekanini ko‘rsatadi. Zarur bilimlar, vositalar va savollar mavjud bo‘lganda, kashfiyot ma’lum ma’noda “pishib yetiladi” va bir nechta odam unga bir vaqtda qo‘l cho‘zishi mumkin. Nyutonning o‘zi buni tan olib, avvalgi yozuvchilardan olgan iborasida, agar u uzoqroqni ko‘rgan bo‘lsa, bu “gigantlarning yelkasida turgani uchun” ekanini yozgan.
Moreover, many celebrated individuals worked within teams whose contributions have been largely forgotten. Edison’s laboratory at Menlo Park employed dozens of skilled machinists, chemists and engineers, and the light bulb that bears his name was the outcome of thousands of experiments carried out by many hands, building on designs by earlier inventors in Britain and elsewhere. Modern science has made this collective character even more obvious: some papers in particle physics now list several thousand authors.
Bundan tashqari, ko‘plab mashhur shaxslar hissalari deyarli unutilgan jamoalar ichida ishlagan. Edisonning Menlo-Parkdagi laboratoriyasida o‘nlab malakali mexaniklar, kimyogarlar va muhandislar ishlagan va uning nomi bilan bog‘liq cho‘g‘lanma lampa Britaniya va boshqa joylardagi avvalgi ixtirochilarning loyihalariga asoslanib, ko‘plab qo‘llar tomonidan o‘tkazilgan minglab tajribalarning natijasi edi. Zamonaviy fan bu jamoaviy xususiyatni yanada yaqqolroq qildi: zarrachalar fizikasidagi ba’zi maqolalar hozir bir necha ming muallifni sanab o‘tadi.
Why, then, does the myth persist? Part of the answer lies in the nature of storytelling: a narrative with a single hero is easier to tell and to remember than an account of gradual, distributed progress. Institutions reinforce the myth too. Prizes, including the Nobel Prize, are typically awarded to a maximum of three people, and patents and copyrights reward individuals or companies rather than the networks of knowledge on which they depend.
Unda nega bu afsona saqlanib qolmoqda? Javobning bir qismi hikoya qilishning tabiatida yotadi: yagona qahramonli hikoyani aytish va eslab qolish asta-sekin, taqsimlangan taraqqiyot haqidagi bayondan osonroq. Muassasalar ham afsonani mustahkamlaydi. Mukofotlar, jumladan Nobel mukofoti odatda ko‘pi bilan uch kishiga beriladi, patentlar va mualliflik huquqlari esa ular tayanadigan bilim tarmoqlarini emas, balki shaxslar yoki kompaniyalarni mukofotlaydi.
The myth is not merely inaccurate; it can be harmful. It may discourage people who do not see themselves as geniuses from pursuing creative or scientific work. It can lead organisations to undervalue collaboration and to concentrate rewards on a few “stars”. And it encourages a dangerous belief that a single brilliant individual, whether an inventor, an entrepreneur or a political leader, can solve complex problems alone.
Afsona shunchaki noto‘g‘ri emas; u zararli ham bo‘lishi mumkin. U o‘zini daho deb bilmaydigan odamlarni ijodiy yoki ilmiy ish bilan shug‘ullanishdan qaytarishi mumkin. U tashkilotlarni hamkorlikni yetarlicha qadrlamaslikka va mukofotlarni bir nechta “yulduz”larga to‘plashga olib kelishi mumkin. Va u yagona zukko shaxs — xoh ixtirochi, xoh tadbirkor, xoh siyosiy yetakchi bo‘lsin — murakkab muammolarni yolg‘iz hal qila oladi degan xavfli ishonchni rag‘batlantiradi.
None of this denies that individuals matter. Newton’s genius was real, and not everyone standing on the shoulders of giants sees as far as he did. But a more truthful picture of creativity would celebrate the conversations, collaborations and accumulated knowledge from which great ideas emerge. Genius, we might say, is less a lightning strike than a harvest, and every harvest depends on many seasons of work by many hands.
Bularning hech biri shaxslar muhim ekanini inkor etmaydi. Nyutonning dahosi haqiqiy edi va gigantlar yelkasida turgan har bir kishi ham u kabi uzoqni ko‘ravermaydi. Lekin ijodkorlikning haqqoniyroq manzarasi buyuk g‘oyalar paydo bo‘ladigan suhbatlar, hamkorliklar va to‘plangan bilimlarni ulug‘lardi. Aytish mumkinki, daho chaqmoq urishidan ko‘ra ko‘proq hosilga o‘xshaydi va har bir hosil ko‘plab qo‘llarning ko‘p mavsumlik mehnatiga bog‘liq.
Tushundingizmi?
Javob topa olmasangiz, «O‘qish» bosqichiga qaytib, matnga qarang — bu ham mashq.
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Asosiy g‘oya
1 What is the main argument of the essay?
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2 What is “multiple discovery”?
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3 What prompted Darwin to publish his theory?
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4 Why does the writer mention Edison’s laboratory?
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5 According to the writer, how can the myth be harmful?
True / False / Not Given
True — matnda aynan shunday deyilgan. False — matn aksini aytadi. Not Given — matnda bu haqda ma’lumot yo‘q.
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1 Darwin published his theory before he heard from Wallace.
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2 Newton and Leibniz argued about who had developed calculus first.
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3 Newton borrowed the phrase about “the shoulders of giants” from earlier writers.
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4 Bell and Gray filed telephone documents on the same day.
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5 Some physics papers have thousands of authors.
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6 The writer suggests stories with one hero are easier to remember.
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7 Edison worked alone at Menlo Park.
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8 Most Nobel Prizes are awarded to teams of three.
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9 Elisha Gray later won a court case against Bell.
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10 The writer denies that individuals matter at all.
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11 The apple tree story about Newton is completely untrue.
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12 The writer considers Newton’s genius to be real.
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